Mandeni Local Municipality

Mandeni Local Municipality (formerly eNdondakusuka Local Municipality) is an administrative area in the iLembe District of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.

Map showing Mandeni Municipality

Mandeni
Local municipality
Seal
Location in KwaZulu-Natal
Country	South Africa
Province	KwaZulu-Natal
District	iLembe
Seat	Mandeni
Wards	17
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Thabani Phiwayinkosi Mdlalose
Area
• Total	545 km2 (210 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	138,078
• Density	253/km2 (656/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	96.7%
• Coloured	0.5%
• Indian/Asian	1.7%
• White	1.0%
First languages (2011) [2]
• Zulu	89.9%
• English	4.6%
• Southern Ndebele	1.2%
• Other	4.3%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	KZN291

Manufacturing, elementary work and plant and machine work are the highest non-farming categories of labour. Mandeni includes substantial areas of commercial agriculture, with the bulk of these areas under sugar-cane. Agriculture is the main employment sector in the area.^[3]

Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:^[4]

Bikers at a GBV event eMandeni

Place	Code	Area (km2)	Population
eNdondakusuka	54301	160.30	6,126
Hlomendini	54302	24.74	1,339
Macambini	54303	161.89	34,337
Mandini	54304	10.05	3,944
Mathonsi	54305	68.93	21,692
Ntunzini	54306	28.32	2,412
Sikhonyane	54307	99.53	30,125
Sundumbili	54308	8.76	24,299
Tugela Mouth	54310	0.59	210
Tugela	54309	12.46	4,170
Umlalazi Nature Reserve	54311	4.26	0

Politics

Main article: Mandeni Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of thirty-five members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Eighteen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in eighteen wards, while the remaining seventeen 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 reduced majority of nineteen seats on the council.

The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.^[5]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	17,418	51.40	16	17,930	52.82	3	19
	Inkatha Freedom Party	8,832	26.06	2	9,307	27.42	8	10
	Economic Freedom Fighters	3,453	10.19	0	3,647	10.74	4	4
	Democratic Alliance	781	2.30	0	793	2.34	1	1
	Independent candidates	1,512	4.46	0				0
	African Independent Congress	652	1.92	0	680	2.00	1	1
	Justice and Employment Party	248	0.73	0	413	1.22	0	0
	African Transformation Movement	268	0.79	0	354	1.04	0	0
	National Freedom Party	260	0.77	0	334	0.98	0	0
	African Christian Democratic Party	164	0.48	0	164	0.48	0	0
	Abantu Batho Congress	138	0.41	0	132	0.39	0	0
	African Federal Convention	60	0.18	0	55	0.16	0	0
	Al Jama-ah	50	0.15	0	38	0.11	0	0
	African People's Movement	26	0.08	0	50	0.15	0	0
	United Christian Democratic Party	27	0.08	0	48	0.14	0	0
Total		33,889	100.00	18	33,945	100.00	17	35
Valid votes		33,889	97.53		33,945	97.48
Invalid/blank votes		860	2.47		876	2.52
Total votes		34,749	100.00		34,821	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		74,694	46.52		74,694	46.62

Corruption and assassination

On 31 January 2025, African National Congress councillor Phendukani Mabhida wrote to the regional executive exposing corruption in the Mandeni municipality. Mandeni was assassinated hours before he was due to appear at a meeting to further address these concerns.^[6]