Msunduzi Municipality () is a local municipality within the

Umgungundlovu District Municipality uMgungundlovu is one of the 11 district municipalities ("districts") of KwaZulu-Natal province. The seat of uMgungundlovu is Pietermaritzburg. The majority of its 1 million+ residents speak Zulu (2001 Census). The district code is DC22. Geogr ...

, in the

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

province of

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It encompasses the city of

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...

, which is the capital of KwaZulu-Natal and the main economic hub of the Umgungundlovu District Municipality. Msunduzi Municipality is situated on the N3 highway at a junction of an industrial corridor (from

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

to Pietermaritzburg) and an agro-industrial corridor (stretching from Pietermaritzburg to Estcourt). On the regional scale, it is located at the cross section of the N3 corridor and the Greytown Road corridor to the north, a tourist route to the

Drakensberg The Drakensberg (Zulu language, Zulu: uKhahlamba, Sotho language, Sotho: Maloti, Afrikaans: Drakensberge) is the eastern portion of the Great Escarpment, Southern Africa, Great Escarpment, which encloses the central South Africa#Geography, Sout ...

, and Kokstad Road to the south.Integrated Development Plan - May 2009.
Msunduzi Municipality. Retrieved on Oct 7, 2009. The city of Pietermaritzburg is a provincial and national centre of education. Pietermaritzburg is a seat of the

University of KwaZulu-Natal The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN; , ) is a public research university with five campuses in the province of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. It was formed on 1 January 2004 after the merger between the University of Natal and the University ...

and is home to several other institutions of higher learning. In addition, Pietermaritzburg is home to a host of private and government-owned institutions of primary and secondary education.

Politics

The Msunduzi Local Municipality council consists of eighty-one members elected by

mixed-member proportional representation Mixed-member proportional representation (MMP or MMPR) is a type of representation provided by some mixed electoral system, mixed electoral systems which combine local Winner-take-all system, winner-take-all elections with a Compensation (el ...

. Forty-one councillors are elected by

first-past-the-post voting First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...

in forty-one wards, while the remaining forty 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 The African National Congress (ANC) is a political party in South Africa. It originated as a liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid and has governed the country since 1994, when the 1994 South African general election, fir ...

(ANC) lost its majority, obtaining a plurality of forty seats. The following table shows the results of the election.

Mayors

* Hloni Glenford Zondi, 2000-2006 * Zanele Hlatshwayo, 2006-2010 * Mike Tarr, May 2010-2011 * Chris Ndlela, 2011-2016 * Themba Njilo, 2016–August 2019 * *Mzimkhulu Thebolla, August 2019-present

Financial mismanagement

By May 2023, the municipality owed

Eskom Eskom Hld SOC Ltd or Eskom is a South African electricity public utility. Eskom was established in 1923 as the Electricity Supply Commission (ESCOM) (). Eskom represents South Africa in the Southern African Power Pool. The utility is the larg ...

R400 million for electricity services, but did not have the means to pay, and it approached national government for a bailout. By August 2023, the municipality had fallen well below the National Treasury's benchmark of at least 90 days cash-on-hand, stating that it had between 27 and 30 days availability, although opposition

African Christian Democratic Party The African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) is a South African political party founded in 1993. It is a conservative Christian Christian party based on Biblical principles. The leader of the party is Kenneth Meshoe. Following the 2016 municipa ...

councillor Niemand Reinu stated that the municipality only had 7 days cash available. The municipality however intended to go ahead with a R27 million sponsorship to local soccer club Royal AM. The sponsorship was reported to be up for review in April 2024. The municipality is struggling to collect revenue, with an estimated 25000 illegal electricity connections. In September 2023, R33 million was reported missing from a pension fund for retiring employees.

Housing

As of September 2023, Msunduzi had identified 50 problem buildings, although in the aftermath of the 2023 Johannesburg building fire, inspections are ongoing and the number is expected to grow.

Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:Lookup Tables - Statistics South Africa
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References

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Local municipalities of the Umgungundlovu District Municipality