Nquthu Local Municipality

Nquthu Municipality (Zulu: UMasipala wase Nquthu) is a local municipality within the Umzinyathi District Municipality, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Nquthu is an isiZulu word meaning "the back of the head".^[4]

Nquthu
Local municipality
Seal
Location in KwaZulu-Natal
Country	South Africa
Province	KwaZulu-Natal
District	uMzinyathi
Seat	Nquthu
Wards	17
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Mr IL Shabalala
Area
• Total	1,962 km2 (758 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	165,307
• Density	84/km2 (220/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	99.7%
• Coloured	0.1%
• Indian/Asian	0.1%
• White	0.1%
First languages (2011) [3]
• Zulu	90.1%
• Sotho	6.6%
• Other	3.3%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	KZN242

Isandlwana is the site of a historic Anglo-Zulu War battle that took place on 22 January 1879, and is a well known tourist destination worldwide.^[5]

Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:^[6]

Place	Code	Area (km2)	Population
Buthanani	52001	88.20	9,050
Emandleni	52002	250.76	8,877
Godide	52003	46.00	2,191
Hlatshwayo	52004	49.50	5,135
Khiphinkunzi	52005	168.71	26,233
Mangidini	52006	39.48	2,963
Mbokodwebomvu	52007	81.09	6,083
Molefe	52008	547.55	61,029
Nondweni	52009	7.61	7,173
Nquthu	52010	40.69	8,113
Vulindlela	52011	94.34	4,335
Zondi	52012	40.03	3,834

Politics

Main article: Nquthu Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of thirty-seven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Seventeen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in seventeen wards, while the remaining sixteen 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 Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) won a majority of nineteen seats.

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.^[7]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Inkatha Freedom Party	20,789	49.25	14	21,665	51.03	5	19
	African National Congress	15,222	36.06	5	15,385	36.23	9	14
	Abantu Batho Congress	3,030	7.18	0	2,955	6.96	3	3
	Economic Freedom Fighters	741	1.76	0	779	1.83	1	1
	Independent candidates	704	1.67	0				0
	Democratic Alliance	355	0.84	0	342	0.81	0	0
	National Freedom Party	298	0.71	0	312	0.73	0	0
	Future Generation Congress	223	0.53	0	190	0.45	0	0
	African Christian Democratic Party	169	0.40	0	195	0.46	0	0
	National Peoples Ambassadors	126	0.30	0	140	0.33	0	0
	African Transformation Movement	135	0.32	0	103	0.24	0	0
	African People's Movement	115	0.27	0	108	0.25	0	0
	People's Freedom Party	112	0.27	0	87	0.20	0	0
	Forum for Service Delivery	77	0.18	0	79	0.19	0	0
	African Mantungwa Community	73	0.17	0	68	0.16	0	0
	United Christian Democratic Party	42	0.10	0	51	0.12	0	0
Total		42,211	100.00	19	42,459	100.00	18	37
Valid votes		42,211	98.61		42,459	98.52
Invalid/blank votes		593	1.39		637	1.48
Total votes		42,804	100.00		43,096	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		80,324	53.29		80,324	53.65