Mthonjaneni Local Municipality

Mthonjaneni is an administrative area in the King Cetshwayo District of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.

Mthonjaneni
Local municipality
Seal
Location in KwaZulu-Natal
Country	South Africa
Province	KwaZulu-Natal
District	King Cetshwayo
Seat	Melmoth
Wards	6
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Mr Mbangiseni Biyela
Area
• Total	1,086 km2 (419 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	47,818
• Density	44/km2 (110/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	98.5%
• Coloured	0.4%
• Indian/Asian	0.2%
• White	0.7%
First languages (2011) [3]
• Zulu	93.8%
• English	1.7%
• Southern Ndebele	1.5%
• Other	3%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	KZN285

The Mthonjaneni heights at the northern limit of the municipality

Mthonjaneni is an isiZulu name meaning "a spring of water". There is a spring found in the vicinity of the municipality where King Dingaan used to send his maidens to collect water for him.^[4]

The municipality was enlarged at the time of the South African municipal election, 2016 when part of the disbanded Ntambanana Local Municipality was merged into it.^[5]

Main places

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

Place	Code	Area (km2)	Population
Biyela Kwanguye	54101	8.25	1,560
Entembeni	54102	271.17	24,886
Kwanguye	54103	6.30	517
Melmoth	54104	12.10	1,816
Mnanyando	54105	17.64	3,794
Obuka	54107	22.88	1,902
Thubalethu	54108	1.34	5,137
Yanguya	54109	73.57	5,430
Remainder of the municipality	54106	672.29	5,329

Politics

Main article: Mthonjaneni Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of twenty-five members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Thirteen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in thirteen wards, while the remaining twelve 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) lost its majority, obtaining a plurality of twelve seats on the council.

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

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	Inkatha Freedom Party	10,734	46.51	8	11,391	49.34	4	12
	African National Congress	8,755	37.93	5	8,735	37.84	5	10
	Independent candidates	2,088	9.05	0				0
	Academic Congress Union				1,430	6.19	1	1
	Economic Freedom Fighters	644	2.79	0	675	2.92	1	1
	National Freedom Party	525	2.27	0	510	2.21	1	1
	Democratic Alliance	118	0.51	0	109	0.47	0	0
	African Transformation Movement	111	0.48	0	93	0.40	0	0
	Abantu Batho Congress	65	0.28	0	68	0.29	0	0
	African Christian Democratic Party	28	0.12	0	45	0.19	0	0
	African People's Movement	11	0.05	0	31	0.13	0	0
Total		23,079	100.00	13	23,087	100.00	12	25
Valid votes		23,079	98.44		23,087	98.51
Invalid/blank votes		366	1.56		350	1.49
Total votes		23,445	100.00		23,437	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		45,408	51.63		45,408	51.61