UMdoni Local Municipality

uMdoni Municipality (Zulu: UMasipala wase Mdoni) is a local municipality within the Ugu District Municipality, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. uMdoni is the isiZulu name for the indigenous forest waterberry (Syzygium gerrardii) plant.^[3]

Umdoni
Local municipality
Seal
Location in KwaZulu-Natal
Country	South Africa
Province	KwaZulu-Natal
District	Ugu
Seat	Scottburgh
Wards	19
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
• Mayor	Sibongile Khathi
Area
• Total	252 km2 (97 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	78,875
• Density	310/km2 (810/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	76.7%
• Coloured	1.2%
• Indian/Asian	13.3%
• White	8.5%
First languages (2011) [2]
• Zulu	67.0%
• English	23.0%
• Xhosa	4.9%
• Afrikaans	2.4%
• Other	2.7%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	KZN212

Main places

The 2011 census divided the municipality into the following main places:^[4]

Place	Code	Area (km2)	Population
Bazley Beach	50201	1.65	268
KwaCele	50202	0.70	2,543
Dududu	50205	7.78	5,642
Elysium	50203	1.63	189
Emalangeni	50204	2.54	7,009
Ifafa Beach	50206	0.58	133
Ifafa Marina	50207	0.53	187
Kelso	50208	1.20	425
Mtwalume	50209	2.89	610
Park Rynie	50210	7.81	3,732
Pennington	50211	9.40	2,332
Scottburgh (CBD)	50212	1.58	2,131
Sezela	50213	5.53	1,203
Umzinto	50215	12.39	16,205
Remainder of the municipality	50214	118.87	4,138

Politics

Main article: uMdoni Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of thirty-seven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Nineteen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in nineteen wards, while the remaining eighteen 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 seventeen seats on the council. The following table shows the results of the election.^[5]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	15,122	44.37	15	14,955	43.93	2	17
	Democratic Alliance	6,043	17.73	4	6,150	18.06	3	7
	Inkatha Freedom Party	4,605	13.51	0	4,948	14.53	5	5
	Economic Freedom Fighters	3,999	11.73	0	3,989	11.72	5	5
	Allied Movement for Change	1,153	3.38	0	1,025	3.01	1	1
	Abantu Batho Congress	746	2.19	0	688	2.02	1	1
	Al Jama-ah	539	1.58	0	522	1.53	1	1
	Independent candidates	619	1.82	0				0
	15 other parties	1,255	3.68	0	1,767	5.19	0	0
Total		34,081	100.00	19	34,044	100.00	18	37
Valid votes		34,081	98.25		34,044	97.83
Invalid/blank votes		606	1.75		756	2.17
Total votes		34,687	100.00		34,800	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		71,831	48.29		71,831	48.45

By-elections from November 2021

The following by-elections were held to fill vacant ward seats in the period since November 2021.

Date	Ward	Party of the previous councillor		Party of the newly elected councillor
27 July 2022[6]	52102013		Democratic Alliance		African National Congress

After the by-election, the council was reconfigured as below:

Party		Seats
		Ward	List	Total
	African National Congress	16	2	18
	Democratic Alliance	3	3	6
	Inkatha Freedom Party	0	5	5
	Economic Freedom Fighters	0	5	5
	Allied Movement for Change	0	1	1
	Abantu Batho Congress	0	1	1
	Al Jama-ah	0	1	1
Total		19	18	37