Vulamehlo Local Municipality was a local municipality in

Ugu District Municipality Ugu is one of the 11 districts of KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. ''Ugu'' is Zulu for "coast". It governs the KZN South Coast and its seat is Port Shepstone. The majority of its 722,484 people speak IsiZulu (2011 Census). The district cod ...

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 ...

. It was located south of the eThekwini municipality and bordered by uMdoni to the east, Mkhambathini and

Richmond Richmond most often refers to: * Richmond, Virginia, the capital of Virginia, United States * Richmond, London, a part of London * Richmond, North Yorkshire, a town in England * Richmond, British Columbia, a city in Canada * Richmond, California, ...

to the north and Ubuhlebezwe to the west. There is an almost equal split of land between commercial agriculture and traditional settlement areas. 48% of the area is held under communal ownership through traditional authorities; the balance of the area is privately owned, except for Vernon Crookes Nature Reserve, which is managed by

Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife is a governmental organisation responsible for maintaining wildlife conservation areas and biodiversity in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Their headquarters is in Queen Elizabeth Park situated on the northern slopes of ...

.Vulamehlo Integrated Development Plan (2009/2010 Final Review).
Vulamehlo Municipality. Retrieved on Oct 7, 2009. In 2016 the municipality was divided between eThekwini and uMdoni.

Topography

The municipality was characterised by sharp valleys, river systems, and hilly, broken terrain. Approximately 30% of the area was estimated to contain slopes of 1:3 and steeper. The fragmented and steep topography had limited development and agricultural production, and had greatly contributed to the dispersed nature of the area's settlement patterns. The major river systems within the area were the uMkhomazi, Mpambanyoni and Mthwalume rivers. The other perennial rivers which flow through Vulamehlo included the Nungwane River, Lovu River, Msimbazi River, Mzimayi River, uMzinto and Mkhumbane rivers.

Economy and infrastructure

The Vulamehlo Municipality was largely made up of traditional settlements and was characterised by limited economic activity. The area has high levels of unemployment, with many of those who are employed commuting long distances to other economic centres such as

Durban Durban ( ) ( zu, eThekwini, from meaning 'the port' also called zu, eZibubulungwini for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed ''Durbs'',Ishani ChettyCity nicknames in SA and across the worldArticle on ''news24.com'' from ...

Port Shepstone Port Shepstone is a large town situated on the mouth of the Mzimkhulu River, the largest river on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast of South Africa. It is located halfway between Hibberdene and Margate and is positioned 120 km south of Durban. ...

Ixopo Ixopo is a town situated on a tributary of the Mkhomazi River along the R56 highway in the midlands of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Background Ixopo was formerly known as Stuartstown, was laid out in 1878 and named after M Stuart, Resident Magi ...

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...

and

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

. The main sources of income and economic activities in the municipality include subsistence farming and commercial agriculture, including the production of

sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tall, Perennial plant, perennial grass (in the genus ''Saccharum'', tribe Andropogoneae) that is used for sugar Sugar industry, production. The plants are 2–6 m (6–20 ft) tall with ...

and

timber plantation A tree plantation, forest plantation, plantation forest, timber plantation or tree farm is a forest planted for high volume production of wood, usually by planting one type of tree as a monoculture forest. The term ''tree farm'' also is used to ...

. Small-scale sugarcane growers tend to cluster around

Dududu Dududu is a small rural area in the South Coast of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. It is also referred to as Zembeni by locals. The area is primarily used for agriculture, i.e. the sugarcane plantations by the Illovo Sugar company. ...

, Kenterton and Mfume. The dispersed, low-density settlement pattern has made the provision of physical and social infrastructure (roads, water, electricity, clinics, schools, and police stations) relatively difficult and expensive. The network of roads connecting the area's settlements is generally poor. The area of former Vulamehlo Municipality is one of the localities within the Ugu District that is hardest hit by high unemployment levels, poverty, and negative economic growth rate.

Main places

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

Politics

The municipal council consisted of twenty 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 ...

. Ten councillors were 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 ten

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 ten were 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 was proportional to the number of votes received. In the election of 18 May 2011 the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

(ANC) won a majority of thirteen seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.

References

External links

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