Ulundi Municipality () is a local municipality within the southern part of the

Zululand District Municipality The Zululand District Municipality () is one of the 11 districts of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Its seat is Ulundi. As of 2011, a majority of its 803,575 inhabitants spoke isiZulu. The district code is DC26. Geography Neig ...

, 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 is a mainly rural municipality, and its seat is

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

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 The HIV, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is a retrovirus that attacks the immune system. Without treatment, it can lead to a spectrum of conditions including acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS). It is a Preventive healthcare, pr ...

. 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 game park) is a large area of land where wild animals are hunted in a controlled way for sport. If hunting is prohibited, a game reserve may be considered a nature reserve; however, the focus of a game 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 later assumed command of punitive expeditions during the sixth Xhosa War. He became a s ...

’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 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 ...

. Twenty-four 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 twenty-four wards, 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 c ...

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 (IFP; ) is a conservative political party in South Africa, which is a part of the current South African Third Cabinet of Cyril Ramaphosa, government of national unity together with the African National Congress (ANC). A ...

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

References

External links

* {{Authority control Local municipalities of the Zululand District Municipality