Sectors

Agricultural Sector

Sugar cane farming is the main agricultural business in the flatter and fertile areas of eNdondakusuka, KwaDukuza, Ndwedwe to a certain extent in the Umvoti Valley. Small patches of forestry plantations can be found both on the coast and inland. Other agricultural activities are crop farming, tunnel farming, flowers and nurseries; they represent substantial opportunities to be further developed for export markets.

Tourism Sector

KwaDukuza also known as the Dolphin Coast area has a diversity of cultures that are rich in history. The Dolphin Coast covers the areas from Zimbali in the south where there is an exotic golf -course resort, Zinkwazi in the north as well as the inland areas of Shakaskraal and Umhlali.

The beaches along the coastline are mostly rocky with some sandy shores. High Rock on the coast is one of King Shaka's legendary spots and this has now become a popular fishing spot.

Manufacturing Sector

The Isithebe Estates, together with sugar and paper mills located in the district are largely responsible for the majority of industrial production. There are a number of well established industries, especially in the clothing and textile sector, operating from this area. A wide range of light industries have also developed in this centre. Small art and crafts producers exist in Ndwedwe and Maphumulo municipalities.
For further information on generic sectors in the whole of KwaZulu-Natal, kindly click here.

Ilembe District Municipality

The iLembe DM lies on the east coast of KZN, along EThekwini Metro in the south and Tugela River mouth in the south. It is a smallest town of the ten KZN district municipalities at an area of 3,369 km². ILembe DM consists of four local municipalities, i.e. Mandeni, Ndwedwe, Stanger and Maphumulo.

The northern areas of Ndwedwe, the central corridor of Mandeni and Stanger municipality are commercial farming hubs of the district. These commercial areas (31% of the land) are mainly under privately owned sugar cane. Areas of urbanization in the district comprise Stanger, Mandeni, Nkwazi and the Dolphin Coast. Land uses are typically urban mixed uses with high levels of infrastructural and service development and an adequate provision of social facilities and services to support the residents. Industrial development is concentrated in Stanger, Isithebe and Darnall.

Below are packaged projects throughout iLembe District with concise project descriptions, information on locations, current statuses, ownership, return on investment and importantly project requirements.

Development Corridors

Spatial Development Corridor

Nodes and Development Corridors in this region for the next five years.

• PC1 - The eThekwini / uMhlatuze Corridor, focusing primarily on development opportunities being presented as part of the La Mercy/DTP Development and creating opportunities for linking and strengthening the second and first economy.

iLembe District Municipality

The iLembe DM lies on the east coast of KZN, along EThekwini Metro in the south and Tugela River mouth in the south. It is a smallest town of the ten KZN district municipalities at an area of 3,369 km². ILembe DM consists of four local municipalities, i.e. Mandeni, Ndwedwe, Stanger and Maphumulo. The northern areas of Ndwedwe, the central corridor of Mandeni and Stanger municipality are commercial farming hubs of the district. These commercial areas (31% of the land) are mainly under privately owned sugar cane. Areas of urbanization in the district comprise Stanger, Mandeni, Nkwazi and the Dolphin Coast. Land uses are typically urban mixed uses with high levels of infrastructural and service development and an adequate provision of social facilities and services to support the residents. Industrial development is concentrated in Stanger, Isithebe and Darnall..

Ilembe District: Socio-Economic Profile

• Demographics
• The KwaZulu-Natal Province has both growing and maturing population, presenting opportunities and challenges to t he province. According to Statistics South Africa mid-year estimates (2007), the KwaZulu-Natal population was estimated at an average size of 10,0 million people. The largest number of these people lived in eThekwini Metro (32.8 percent of the provincial population), followed by uThungulu district (10.2%) and uMgungundlovu (10.0%). Ilembe was the fourth least populated district in the province with approximately 6.3 percent (Figure 9.1).


• Figure 9.2 shows the distribution of the population across DMs by age group. The largest proportion of the population in iLembe was the age group 15-64 years (59.5%) followed by age group 0-14 years (36,2%). The elderly population made the smallest portion of the total population.
  More potential work seekers translate into higher unemployment levels, particularly if individuals are not appropriately skilled. Hence, the higher number of both young individuals and people in the labour force overall will require more spending in education (primary and secondary) and skills development.


• The majority of the population in iLembe and across all DMs was female during this period (Figure 9.3). It is important to note that Umkhanyakude was the least densely populated district (0.04 people per km2) in the province. Of 586,9 thousand population, only 4,2 percent people are regarded as urban residents. This suggests that there is no pressure on environment and that there could be more available land for development and agricultural use in this district.
• Economic Outlook

Gross domestic product per municipality (GDP-M)

• Between 2002 and 2006, the GDPR for KwaZulu-Natal was estimated at an annual average of R177, 8bn. There was a significant growth of 18.8 percent from R163,9bn in 2002 to R194,7bn in 2006. The iLembe District made the sixth largest contribution to the provincial GDPR, at 3.3 percent. eThekwini, uThungulu, and uMgungundlovu made the most contributions at 64.6 percent, 9.5 percent, and 8.5 percent respectively. Umzinyathi made the least contribution at 0.8 percent.


• 9.5 depicts iLembe’s GDP-M by economic sector between 2002 and 2006. The district achieved growth of 5 percent on average during this period. Manufacturing, Agriculture, and Community Services are the main economic drivers in this district. These sectors have contributed the most to the economy’s GDP-M at 35.1 percent, 17.1 percent, and 16.6 percent respectively. The Transport, Finance, and Trade sectors achieved respective growth rates of 8.5 percent, 8.3 percent, and 7.9 percent, thereby outperforming the other sectors in the economy.Mining had the least growth at 1.0 percent. Agriculture showed a sharp decline in growth moving from 6.7 percent in 2005 to -9.9 percent in 2006.

• International Trade
• Figure 9.6 shows the percentage of export, import, and trade balance (as a proportion of GDP-M) across all DMs. The figure reflects that international trade has a minimal impact on the economy of iLembe. Over the 5 year period, the district’s imports and exports on average made up 4.8 percent and 10.6 percent of the economy’s GDP respectively. This led to a negative trade balance of 5.9 percent of GDP-M.

• The Labour Market

The labour force and the economically active population

• Between 2002 and 2006, the provincial labour force1 approximated at 6,0 million people per annum ( approximately 60.0 percent of total provincial population). Of this total, the economically active population (EAP)2 was approximately 3,1 million. More than 1,4 million of these people were in eThekwini (Figure 9.7).

• 1 Labour force is population aged 15-64 years.
  2 The category EAP is made up of people who are either employed or unemployed. The employed consists of employers and employees, while unemployment are those not having a job but are actively seeking one (official definition), or they do not have a job, are actively seeking one or have given up searching yet still available for work at anytime (expanded definition).
  ILembe’s EAP comprised approximately 160 thousand people. As a proportion of the district labour force3, the district’s EAP was about 49 percent. It was the fourth most economically active district after uMgungundlovu (60.6%), Amajuba (54.6%) and the Metro (66.8%).


• Unemployment
• During the same period, there were about 72,000 unemployed people in iLembe. This was the fourth lowest unemployment figure after Sisonke (49, 000), uMzinyhathi (59,000) and uMkhanyakude (61, 000).
• ILembe’s unemployment rate4 was among the lowest in the province during the review period (46.5%). It was higher only than that in eThekwini and Amajuba, and only one percentage point higher than the provincial average.
  3 EAP/LF = Labour participation rate or ratio.
  4 Expanded definition; includes those unemployed but not actively seeking a job.
  The provincial average unemployment rate was higher among Blacks than the other population groups. In iLembe, the figures were 50.9 percent (Blacks), 21.3 percent (Coloured), 21.0 percent (Indians) and 9.4 percent (Whites).
  
• Employment

Total employment

• During the same period, KwaZulu-Natal employment totaled an annual average of 2,1 million workers. ILembe’s employment was the fourth highest after uMgungundlovu, the Metro and uThungulu (Figure 9.9).

  Formal employment

• Throughout the period, formal employment played the most significant role in the province, ranging between 60 percent and 80 percent of districts’ total employment (Figure 3.2). ILembe’s contribution in this regard was among the relatively lower levels at 68.2 percent, lower even than the provincial average.
  The formal employment sector in the district was dominated by the Agriculture, Manufacturing and Community Services sectors (Figure 9.10).

• Education was the largest engine behind the Community Service performance, contributing a solid half of the sector’s employment. Health and Social Work also played a good role (Figure 9.11). This shows that the education-and-health inclined provincial expenditure budget reaches this district proportionately, as with uThungulu and uMkhanyakude.
  The important manufacturing sector employment on the one hand was concentrated in ‘Wood & wood products’ and ‘Food, beverages & tobacco products’. Agriculture on the other hand was supported by ‘Forestry and logging’ at a solid 78.0 percent.


Informal employment

• The province’s informal sector employment was recorded mainly in Trade, Construction, Community Services, Manufacturing, Transport and Finance. In all the districts, Trade was the main employer with all but four districts having more than half employment in this sector. ILembe’s informal employment was also Trade-dominated. However, this sector’s employment in Manufacturing was also skewed to the upper end in this district (together with Amajuba and uThungulu) (Figure 9.13).

• Figure 9.14 shows the distribution of formal employment in the Trade sector. As in uThungulu, employment in this sector was near-evenly distributed between the four main industries, with ‘Retail Trade and Repairs of Goods’ taking the lead (38.7%). The informal employment sector could also have followed a similar structure.

Land Cover and Use

• In 2006, KwaZulu-Natal’s land size was estimated at 93,378 km2; approximately 8.0 percent of the South African land. iLembe’s share of the KwaZulu-Natal soil was only about 4.0 percent. However, good news is that the district had a satisfactorily large portion of its land used for permanent or temporary cultivation (nearly 50.0%), with the permanently cultivated area actually leading the other uses (Figure 9.15). This is encouraging and agriculture in this district should be continuously supported.


Crime

• Between 2002 and 2006, there has been a consistent decline in reported incidences of crime in the province (2.4 percent annual average). UMkhanyakude and uThungulu were the only resistant districts with peculiar positive growth rates. ILembe’s rate was also unpleasantly high. However, 2003 forward saw a blanketing decline, though with differing magnitudes; the provincial collapse rate in crime was 5.1 percent. Amajuba, Sisonke, uThukela and Zululand enjoyed the highest decline in this regard (at least 8.0%). This time, iLembe was the only reluctant district during this period (Figure 9.16).

• During the period 2002 to 2006, the most common crime in this district was burglary at residential premises. However, this crime – and the majority other types - is slowly fading. Unfortunately though, common assault and drug-related crimes were on the increase since 2003 (Figure 9.17).

Social Development

• Figure 9.18 shows that the proportion of people living in poverty in this district has been decreasing since 2003, and impressively sharply between 2005 and 2006. This undoubtedly contributed to the slowly improved HDI in the district.

• Similar to other areas, though, the Gini coefficient – which measures the income gap between households – has been on the rise. Figure 9.19 also reveals that on average, income distribution among households has also been wide. On average, a cumulative 80.1 percent of households in the district earned at most R54,001 per annum and nearly 98.0 percent earned not more than R192,000. This means that at lest R168,000 was accrued to only one percent of the district’s households. The income skewness in the distribution of income towards a few household is problematic but the experience is relatively better than in Zululand.
  As salt in a wound, the increasing year-on-year Gini coefficient says that the gap has actually been growing wider.

Contact Details

• MM: Mr M Newton
  P O Box 1788 KwaDukuza 4450
  Ilembe House 59 / 61 Mahatma Gandhi Street
  KwaDukuza, 4450
  Tel: 032 437 9300
  Fax: 032 437 9585
  E-mail: mike@ilembe.gov.za Website:www.kwadukuza.gov.za

Other Projects

The government projects are the responsibility of each respective government department, therefore TIKZN is not responsible for the updating of this information. For further assistance, kindly contact the department responsible directly. Follow this link for available projects: