Impendle Local Municipality

Impendle Municipality (Zulu: UMasipala wase Impendle) is a local municipality within the Umgungundlovu District Municipality, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. During the 18th century, the Griquas ("Abatwas") used to hide in the mountain in the area because they were accused of stealing livestock from the farmers who decided to fight the Griquas in order to protect their livestock. The Griquas used war spears, and this conflict was called "an outside war", i.e. impiyasendle or impiendle.^[3]

Impendle Impendle
Local municipality
Seal
Location in KwaZulu-Natal
Country	South Africa
Province	KwaZulu-Natal
District	uMgungundlovu
Seat	Impendle
Wards	5
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Buyisani Mlaba
Area
• Total	1,528 km2 (590 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	33,105
• Density	22/km2 (56/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	98.9%
• Coloured	0.3%
• Indian/Asian	0.1%
• White	0.5%
First languages (2011) [2]
• Zulu	93.3%
• English	1.8%
• Sotho	1.6%
• Southern Ndebele	1.2%
• Other	2.1%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	KZN224

The municipality is extremely diverse in its topography, climate and soils, and has a rich and complex natural environment. High-density settlements occur around Impendle, in villages such as Gomane, KwaNovuka, Similobha and Kamensi.^[4]

Main places

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

Place	Code	Area (km2)	Population
Batlokoa	51001	13.14	675
Impendle Part 1	51005	20.39	1,562
Impendle Part 2	51006	1.25	238
Nxamalala	51003	234.17	28,661
Polela	51004	2.53	189
Remainder of the municipality	51002	674.08	2,255

Politics

Main article: Impendle Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of ten members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Five councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in five wards, while the remaining five 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 six seats on the council.

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.^[6]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	5,478	57.75	5	5,551	58.85	1	6
	Inkatha Freedom Party	1,522	16.04	0	1,658	17.58	2	2
	Economic Freedom Fighters	1,517	15.99	0	1,648	17.47	2	2
	Democratic Alliance	228	2.40	0	240	2.54	0	0
	Independent candidates	451	4.75	0				0
	African Transformation Movement	90	0.95	0	103	1.09	0	0
	National Freedom Party	74	0.78	0	84	0.89	0	0
	Abantu Batho Congress	62	0.65	0	58	0.61	0	0
	African Mantungwa Community	24	0.25	0	43	0.46	0	0
	African Christian Democratic Party	23	0.24	0	27	0.29	0	0
	People's Freedom Party	17	0.18	0	20	0.21	0	0
Total		9,486	100.00	5	9,432	100.00	5	10
Valid votes		9,486	97.80		9,432	97.30
Invalid/blank votes		213	2.20		262	2.70
Total votes		9,699	100.00		9,694	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		17,299	56.07		17,299	56.04