Jump to content

uMshwathi Local Municipality

Coordinates: 29°25′53″S 30°34′50″E / 29.43139°S 30.58056°E / -29.43139; 30.58056
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
uMshwathi
Official seal of uMshwathi
Location in KwaZulu-Natal
Location in KwaZulu-Natal
CountrySouth Africa
ProvinceKwaZulu-Natal
DistrictuMgungundlovu
SeatWartburg
Wards14
Government
 • TypeMunicipal council
 • MayorM. Zondi (ANC)
Area
 • Total1,818 km2 (702 sq mi)
Population
 (2011)[2]
 • Total106,374
 • Density59/km2 (150/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
 • Black African95.1%
 • Coloured0.2%
 • Indian/Asian1.7%
 • White2.7%
First languages (2011)
 • Zulu89.6%
 • English4.9%
 • Sotho1.1%
 • Southern Ndebele1.0%
 • Other3.4%
Time zoneUTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal codeKZN221

UMshwathi Local Municipality is situated in UMgungundlovu District Municipality (UMDM) which is in the foothills of the province of KwaZulu-Natal, about 120 km northwest  of Durban, geographically located between the N2 and the N3 highways. The municipality is the largest Municipality in the largest district of KZN out of the seven Local Municipalities which form UMDM.[4]

The Municipality is advantageously situated between the major ports of Durban and Richards Bay and 90 km (along the R614) and 145 km (along the N3) from King Shaka International Airport and Dube Trade Port Company (DTPC). The Mdloti River headspring, Hazelmere Dam, Mvoti River are the primary water source for the North Coast and, are situated in uMshwathi. The Albert Falls and Nagle Dams are located partly within the Municipal boundaries.[4]


The Municipality was created after the merger of previous Transitional Local Councils and Tribal Areas administered by the former Development Services Board. The area has four major urban centres in the area with a fifty emerging business hubs of Bhamshela. New Hanover is the administrative hub; four major rural residential settlements in the UMshwathi district have fourteen wards. The Municipality has 27 councillors, and the Ward Committees work in each ward to pro-mote civic involvement in local affairs.[4]


The Municipality covers 1 811 square kilometres and has an estimated population of 111 645 people as reported in the 2016 community survey.  It is the second most populous Local Municipality within uMgungundlovu District Municipality. On the National level, uMshwathi rank position 105 in terms of population.  uMsunduzi is the most populous Municipality within the district with 679 038 people (community survey 2016). The Municipality was established in 2001 by amalgamating the Transitional Local Council (TLC) that existed before that period[4]. .[5]

Main places

[edit]

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:[6]

Place Code Area (km2) Population
Albert Falls 50701 3.52 313
Bomvu 50702 6.61 590
Cool Air 50703 1.01 2,112
Dalton 50704 1.35 799
Gcumisa 50705 175.86 38,579
Mpolweni 50706 21.69 6,148
Mthuli 50707 59.14 10,925
Nadi Part 1 50708 4.91 1,393
Nadi Part 2 50717 9.48 646
Ndlovu 50709 6.06 1,206
New Hanover 50710 2.25 1,991
Ngubane 50711 40.89 6,498
Ntanzi 50712 32.28 2,201
Thokozane 50713 2.12 2,966
Trust Feed 50714 2.13 5,242
Wartburg 50716 1.87 905
Remainder of the municipality 50715 1,438.11 25,504

Politics

[edit]

The municipal council consists of twenty-seven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Fourteen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in fourteen wards, while the remaining thirteen are chosen from party lists so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 1 November 2021 the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of sixteen seats on the council.

The following table shows the results of the election.[7]

PartyWardListTotal
seats
Votes%SeatsVotes%Seats
African National Congress17,29459.191417,11558.54216
Inkatha Freedom Party4,15514.2204,55415.5844
Economic Freedom Fighters3,60512.3403,65612.5033
Democratic Alliance1,9736.7501,9456.6522
Abantu Batho Congress1,1864.0601,2204.1711
Patriotic Alliance3991.3704801.6411
Independent candidates3961.3600
African Christian Democratic Party1160.4001490.5100
National Freedom Party940.3201190.4100
Total29,218100.001429,238100.001327
Valid votes29,21897.4129,23897.70
Invalid/blank votes7762.596872.30
Total votes29,994100.0029,925100.00
Registered voters/turnout56,82252.7956,82252.66

References

[edit]
  1. ^ "Mayor". UMshwathi Municipality. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
  2. ^ a b "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  3. ^ "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
  4. ^ a b c d Annual Report 2021. uMshwathi Municipality. 2021. p. 20.
  5. ^ "uMshwathi Municipality". uMshwathi Municipality. Retrieved 12 September 2013.
  6. ^ Lookup Tables - Statistics South Africa
  7. ^ "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — uMshwathi". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2021-12-16.
[edit]

29°25′53″S 30°34′50″E / 29.43139°S 30.58056°E / -29.43139; 30.58056