Ubuhlebezwe Local Municipality

Ubuhlebezwe
Ubuhlebezwe
Local municipality
	Seal
	Location in KwaZulu-Natal
Country	South Africa
Province	KwaZulu-Natal
District	Harry Gwala District
Seat	Ixopo
Wards	12
Government
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Noleen Joanne Peterson
Area
• Total	1,604 km2 (619 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	101,691
• Density	63/km2 (160/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011)
• Black African	97.5%
• Coloured	1.2%
• Indian/Asian	0.4%
• White	0.8%
First languages (2011)
• Zulu	91.6%
• English	3.1%
• Xhosa	1.6%
• Southern Ndebele	1.3%
• Other	2.4%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	KZN434

Ubuhlebezwe Local Municipality is an administrative area in the Harry Gwala District of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Ubuhlebezwe is an isiZulu name meaning "The Beauty of the Land". The name is derived from Alan Paton's novel, Cry, The Beloved Country.^[4]

Main places[]

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:^[5]

Place	Code	Area (km²)	Population
	55101	40.53	4,726
	55102	19.13	3,532
Dunge	55103	47.70	2,666
	55104	48.56	12,316
Ixopo	55105	6.24	8,434
	55106	10.23	751
	55107	72.47	12,580
	55108	33.78	4,063
	55109	85.96	11,476
	55111	20.04	10,208
	55112	55.92	9,804
	55113	94.13	4,524
Remainder of the municipality	55110	1,091.78	16,873

Politics[]

The municipal council consists of twenty-seven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Fourteen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in fourteen wards, while the remaining thirteen 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 (ANC) won a majority of eighteen seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.^[6]


Party		Ward			List			Total seats
Party		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats	Total seats
	African National Congress	18,094	61.68	13	18,694	64.42	5	18
	Economic Freedom Fighters	3,375	11.50	0	3,698	12.74	3	3
	Inkatha Freedom Party	2,043	6.96	0	2,790	9.61	2	2
	Independent candidates	3,280	11.18	1				1
	Democratic Alliance	1,026	3.50	0	1,104	3.80	1	1
	African Independent Congress	813	2.77	0	1,046	3.60	1	1
	National Freedom Party	187	0.64	0	944	3.25	1	1
		210	0.72	0	178	0.61	0	0
	Abantu Batho Congress	114	0.39	0	152	0.52	0	0
	African Transformation Movement	68	0.23	0	194	0.67	0	0
	African Christian Democratic Party	99	0.34	0	127	0.44	0	0
		27	0.09	0	92	0.32	0	0
Total		29,336	100.00	14	29,019	100.00	13	27

Valid votes		29,336	96.22		29,019	95.89
Invalid/blank votes		1,154	3.78		1,245	4.11
Total votes		30,490	100.00		30,264	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		57,551	52.98		57,551	52.59