Ulundi Local Municipality is a local municipality located on the southern boundary of the

Zululand District Municipality Zululand is one of the 11 district municipalities ("districts") of KwaZulu-Natal province. The seat of Zululand is Ulundi. The majority of its 803,575 people speak IsiZulu (2011 Census). The district code is DC26. It is part of a larger historic ...

in northeastern

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. It is a mainly rural municipality that encompasses the town of

Ulundi Ulundi, also known as Mahlabathini, is a town in the Zululand District Municipality. At one time the capital of Zulu Kingdom in South Africa and later the capital of the Bantustan of KwaZulu, Ulundi now lies in KwaZulu-Natal Province (of which, ...

Population characteristics

Recent surveys have identified the following characteristics of the municipality's population:Integrated Development Plan 2006/2007 to 2011/2012 — June 2009.
Ulundi Local Municipality. Retrieved on Oct 11, 2009. More than half the population is younger than 19 years of age, placing pressure on the need for social facilities. A significant number of these children will be orphaned due to

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

. At least 12% of the population (27 450 people) are already infected with HIV/AIDS. Population growth is expected to decline over the next 20 years. Education levels are very low; 29% of the population has no formal education. Income levels are very low; nearly 40% of households have no income. Unemployment levels are very high, with only 12.5% of the total population being formally employed. The population is predominantly Zulu in ethnicity and culture.

Places of interest

The tourism potential of the area remains largely undeveloped; however, the area features a number of activities and places of interest. These include

game reserve A game reserve (also known as a wildlife preserve or a game park) is a large area of land where wild animals live safely or are hunted in a controlled way for sport. If hunting is prohibited, a game reserve may be considered a nature reserve; ...

s, historical/cultural sites, cultural events and guest lodges. Game reserves include the Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Parks, the Ophathe Game Park, the Emakhosini (Valley of the Zulu Kings), the planned Emakhosini-Ophathe Conservancy, and the ThakaZulu Game Reserve. Historical/cultural sites include Nodwengu ( King Mpande’s residence and grave), Ulundi Battlefield, Amafa and Dingaan Stat/

Piet Retief Pieter Mauritz Retief (12 November 1780 – 6 February 1838) was a ''Voortrekker'' leader. Settling in 1814 in the frontier region of the Cape Colony, he assumed command of punitive expeditions in response to raiding parties from the adjacent ...

’s grave.

Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:

Politics

The municipal council consists of forty-seven members elected by

mixed-member proportional representation Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a mixed electoral system in which votes cast are considered in local elections and also to determine overall party vote tallies, which are used to allocate additional members to produce ...

. Twenty-four councillors are elected by

first-past-the-post voting In a first-past-the-post electoral system (FPTP or FPP), formally called single-member plurality voting (SMP) when used in single-member districts or informally choose-one voting in contrast to ranked voting, or score voting, voters cast their ...

in twenty-four

wards Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a priso ...

, while the remaining twenty-three are chosen from

party list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can ...

s so that the total number of party representatives is proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 1 November 2021 the

Inkatha Freedom Party The Inkatha Freedom Party ( zu, IQembu leNkatha yeNkululeko, IFP) is a right-wing political party in South Africa. The party has been led by Velenkosini Hlabisa since the party's 2019 National General Conference. Mangosuthu Buthelezi founded t ...

(IFP) won a majority of thirty-two seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.

References

External links

* {{Municipalities of KwaZulu-Natal Local municipalities of the Zululand District Municipality