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 code is DC21.

Ugu
District municipality
Seal
Location of Ugu District Municipality within KwaZulu-Natal
Coordinates: 30°45′S 30°26′E
Country	South Africa
Province	KwaZulu-Natal
Seat	Port Shepstone
Local municipalities	List Ray Nkonyeni uMdoni Umzumbe uMuziwabantu
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Sizwe Ngcobo
Area
• Total	5,047 km^2 (1,949 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	722,484
• Density	140/km^2 (370/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	90.6%
• Coloured	0.8%
• Indian/Asian	3.4%
• White	4.9%
First languages (2011) [2]
• Zulu	82.7%
• English	8.3%
• Xhosa	4.3%
• Afrikaans	2.1%
• Other	2.6%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	DC21

The largest towns in the municipality are Port Shepstone, Margate, Umzinto, Scottburgh and Harding.

Geography

The boundaries of the Ugu District Municipality which covers an area of 5866 square kilometres, coincide with the boundaries of the geographical area of the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast. The municipality stretches 112 kilometres along the coast from Scottburgh in the north to Port Edward in the south and Harding in the west (interior).[3]

The municipality is 84% rural and 16% urban which is the pillar of its successful economy. The municipality consists of eighty one (81) municipal wards, which are in its local municipalities, namely Ray Nkonyeni, Umzumbe, Umdoni and Umuziwabantu . The region also includes forty two (42) traditional authorities.[3]

Topography

Being a coastal strip, the topography generally falls towards the coast and is segmented by many water courses (streams/rivers) resulting in numerous hills and valleys as well as very flat areas along the coast.

Mismanagement

In 2020, the Portfolio Committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) released a report in which various corruption-related matters in the municipality were addressed.[4] In the wake of the report the municipal manager, mr D.D. Naidoo, was removed from his post. The municipality is suffering from poor service delivery as a direct consequence of its poor management and defective tender procedures.[4]

Local municipalities

The district contains the following local municipalities:

Local municipality	Population	%	Dominant language
Ray Nkonyeni	308 675	37.70%	Zulu
Umzumbe	193 764	27.52%	Zulu
uMuziwabantu	92 322	13.11%	Zulu
uMdoni	78 875	8.85%	Zulu

Neighbours

Ugu is surrounded by:

• Umgungundlovu to the north (DC22)
• eThekwini to the north-east (Greater Durban)
• the Indian Ocean to the east
• Alfred Nzo to the south (DC44)
• Harry Gwala to the west (DC43)

Demographics

The following statistics are from the 2011 census.

Languages

Language	Population	%
IsiZulu	588,483	82.69%
English	58,801	8.26%
IsiXhosa	30,440	4.28%
Afrikaans	14,616	2.05%
IsiNdebele	7,191	1.01%
Setswana	3,441	0.48%
Sign language	2,704	0.38%
Other	2,198	0.31%
Sepedi	1,558	0.22%
Sesotho	1,511	0.21%
Tshivenda	319	0.04%
SiSwati	229	0.03%
Xitsonga	214	0.03%

Gender

Gender	Population	%
Female	383,323	53.06%
Male	339,161	46.94%

Ethnic group

Ethnic group	Population	%
African	654,773	90.63%
White	35,723	4.94%
Indian/Asian	24,711	3.42%
Coloured	6,123	0.85%
Other	1,154	0.16%

Age

Age	Population	%
000 - 004	76 009	10.80%
005 - 009	91 171	12.95%
010 - 014	94 511	13.42%
015 - 019	90 364	12.84%
020 - 024	60 699	8.62%
025 - 029	49 685	7.06%
030 - 034	39 537	5.62%
035 - 039	38 238	5.43%
040 - 044	32 451	4.61%
045 - 049	25 936	3.68%
050 - 054	24 122	3.43%
055 - 059	19 163	2.72%
060 - 064	18 861	2.68%
065 - 069	15 046	2.14%
070 - 074	13 976	1.99%
075 - 079	6 998	0.99%
080 - 084	4 522	0.64%
085 - 089	1 631	0.23%
090 - 094	688	0.10%
095 - 099	291	0.04%
100 plus	102	0.01%

Politics

Election results

Election results for Ugu in the South African general election, 2004.

• Population 18 and over: 385 659 [54.78% of total population]
• Total votes: 216 751 [30.79% of total population]
• Voting % estimate: 56.20% votes as a % of population 18 and over

Party	Votes	%
African National Congress	124 925	57.64%
Inkhata Freedom Party	59 740	27.56%
Democratic Alliance	17 121	7.90%
African Christian Democratic Party	3 678	1.70%
Minority Front	2 245	1.04%
United Democratic Movement	1 715	0.79%
Independent Democrats	1 218	0.56%
Freedom Front Plus	1 049	0.48%
New National Party	842	0.39%
Azanian People's Organisation	768	0.35%
Pan African Congress	480	0.22%
SOPA	448	0.21%
United Christian Democratic Party	424	0.20%
EMSA	382	0.18%
UF	380	0.18%
PJC	349	0.16%
CDP	281	0.13%
TOP	265	0.12%
NA	183	0.08%
KISS	155	0.07%
NLP	103	0.05%
Total	216 751	100.00%

References

1. "Contact list: Executive Mayors". Government Communication & Information System. Archived from the original on 14 July 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
2. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
3. "Ugu District Municipality - Home". ugu.gov.za. Retrieved 2020-07-29.
4. "AfriForum se Margate-tak verwelkom verslag oor Ugu Distriksmunisipaliteit". AfriForum. afriforum.co.za. Retrieved 2 December 2020.

External links

• Ugu DM Official website