Sectors

Manufacturing Sector

In Mthonjaneni there are a predominantly small scale ventures while Mbonambi is dominated by Sappi, Mondi and RBM manufacturing industries. Metals and related products are the biggest industries in the districts contributing more than 40% to the district economy followed by the petroleum, rubber, plastics and chemical industries which contributes 18% and the wood, paper and printing industry that contributed 13%. The manufacturing of food, beverages and tobacco products, transport equipment products, and furniture products, contributed more than R350 million each to the uThungulu economy in 2004. The prospects of IDZ in uThungulu represent opportunities for manufacturing goods targeting the local and global economies.

Agricultural Sector

The agricultural activities in the districts are mainly sugar cane and forestry with some citrus, nuts and animal husbandry. Mbonambi area is comprised of small scale of agriculture mostly subsistence farming, community gardens and forestry. Small scale of vegetables and poultry, sugar and timber is found along the areas of Umhlathuze, while Ntambanana has a mixed agricultural productivity that consist of large scale of commercial farming, small scale of poultry, vegetables and cotton. Umlalazi is more concentrating on sugar cane, timber, citrus and community gardens. Small groups of farmers are emerging in this local municipal area. Development of this sector in Umlalazi is hindered by lower skills level, poor transport infrastructure and limited market access. Major crop production found in Mthonjaneni includes agronomy (maize, potato & beans), horticulture (cabbage, chilies & tomatoes), fruits mainly banana, avocado and citrus fruits. Forestry plantations are found in around areas of Nkandla local municipality together with subsistence farming (maize, beans, vegetables and small livestock), essential oil production and also tea production that is located at the Ntingwe tea estate.

Port Services Sector

As the third most important town in KZN, Richards Bay boasts the presence of the port of Richards Bay. The harbour is the second largest export coal terminal in the world. The potential of this harbour to expand given its land area of 2.157 hectares and 1.495 hectares of water area will make this port one of the largest ports in the world. Given the current expansion project run by Richards Bay Coal Terminal Company limited, this will see the coal terminal's capacity expanded from current 72 million tons per annum to 81 million tons per annum. More job opportunities are to derive from this project in a form of supply services and coal mining activities within the vicinity of Richards Bay.

Tourism Sector

The current status of tourism within uThungulu has bee found to be relatively weak, with the exception of business tourists related to the industrial strengths of Richards Bay area. Research has shown that neither foreign nor domestic tourists presently see uThungulu district as a ''tourism destination''. However market research has identified that potential does exist to develop some of the areas inherent tourism assets and to embark upon a programme to develop catalytic attractions.

King Cetshwayo District Municipality

King Cetshwayo District Municipality is situated in north eastern KwaZulu-Natal and is made up of the six local municipalities namely, uMhlatuze, Mbonambi, Ntambanana, uMlalazi, Mthonjaneni and Nkandla. The district has a climate conducive to agriculture and tourism and has significant natural resources. Major land uses are commercial agriculture (sugar-cane in the low-lying coastal belt and citrus vegetable and subtropical fruit in irrigated areas), forestry, mining, traditional farming urban areas that are expanding and industrial development in the Empangeni Richards Bay areas.

Below are packaged projects throughout uThungulu 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 for this region for the next five years:

• SC1 - Umhlatuze/Ulundi/Vryheid (P 700) Corridor as a new link between the Richards Bay harbor and Gauteng, focusing primarily on the section between Ulundi and the Cengeni Gate of Umfolozi Game Reserve, and the Ulundi Airport.

King Cetshwayo District

King Cetshwayo District Municipality is situated in north eastern KwaZulu-Natal and is made up of the six local municipalities namely, uMhlatuze, Mbonambi, Ntambanana, uMlalazi, Mthonjaneni and Nkandla. The district has a climate conducive to agriculture and tourism and has significant natural resources. Major land uses are commercial agriculture (sugar-cane in the low-lying coastal belt and citrus vegetable and subtropical fruit in irrigated areas), forestry, mining, traditional farming urban areas that are expanding and industrial development in the Empangeni Richards Bay areas.

King Cetshwayo District: Socio-Economic Profile

• Demographics
• The KwaZulu-Natal Province has both, a growing and maturing population, presenting opportunities and challenges to the province. According to Statistics South Africa mid-year estimates (2008), the KwaZulu-Natal population was estimated at an average size of 10,1 million people. The largest number of these people lived in eThekwini Metro (32.6 percent of the provincial population), followed by uThungulu district (10.2%) and uMgungundlovu (10.0%). Sisonke was the least populated district municipality (4,0%) (Figure 8.1).


• Figure 8.2 shows the distribution of the population across district municipalities by age group. In uThungulu the largest proportion of the population was the age group 15-64 years (565,935), which constitute 57.4 percent of the district population1. This was followed by age group 0-14 years (384,915), which is about 39.0 percent. The elderly population made the smallest portion of the total population in the district at 3.9 percent. In uThungulu the majority of the population was females across age groups (Figure 8.3).
  1 The provincial estimate was 6,033,961.
  The total number of households in uThungulu made up 9.0 percent of the total households in the province, almost consistent with its share of the provincial population.


• Economic Outlook

Gross domestic product per municipality (GDP-M)

• Between 2002 and 2008, the GDPR for KwaZulu-Natal was estimated at an annual average of R184,8bn. There was significant growth of 29.9 percent from R162bn in 2002 to R210,4bn in 2007. UThungulu was the second largest contributor to the provincial GDPR at an annual average of 9.25 percent, after eThekwini (64.9%), and was followed by the uMgungundlovu district which contributed 8.43 percent. The least contributor was uMzinyathi at 0.8 percent (Figure 8.4). UThungulu boasted significant growth between 2002 and 2007, moving from a GDP-R of 15,7bn to 18,3bn; a growth of 17 percent.


• Figure 8.5 shows uThungulu’s GDP-M by economic sector between 2002 and 2008. During this period the economy of the district grew by an annual average of 3.1 percent. Manufacturing, Mining and Community Services sectors are the main economic drivers in this district. These three sectors contributed respective annual averages of 40.9 percent, 12.4 percent and 11.9 percent to the district’s GDPM between 2002 and 2008. However, Transport was the fastest growing sector at an annual average of 5.0 percent. Agriculture and Electricity showed least growth, both at 1.1 percent. The negative impact of agriculture on uThungulu’s economy was mostly felt in 2006 as compared to other years. This shows that there is a structural shift in the uThungulu’s economy from agriculture to industrialized economy.

• International Trade
• Figure 8.6 shows the percentage of exports, imports and trade balance (as a proportion of GDP-M) across all DMs. It reveals that the economy of uThungulu is mainly dominated by international trade, and that it exports more than it imports; the percentage of export and import to GDP-M is 103.8 percent and 35.4 percent respectively. This results in a positive trade balance of 68.6 percent, the highest in the province, followed by uMgungundlovu (19.0%). Many DMs including eThekwini, had a negative trade balance.

• The Labour Market

The labour force and the economically active population

• As mentioned earlier, between 2002 and 2006, the provincial labour force 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 8.7). UThungulu had approximately 221 thousand people falling in this category.
  
  As a proportion of the district labour force, uThungulu’s EAP was about 42 percent, the slightly less than the provincial average (52.9%). It is the fourth most economically active district after uMgungundlovu (58.3%), Amajuba (56.0%) and the Metro (66.7%). This shows that although uThungulu has more people in the labour force category than Amajuba, more people in the latter district are available for employment than in the former.

• 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).

Unemployment

Between 2002 and 2006, the number of unemployed people in uThungulu averaged 112, 000. This was the third highest unemployment figure after the Metro (562, 000) and uMgungundlovu (172, 000).

Figure 8.8 gives the average unemployment rates (the unemployed as proportion of the EAP) in the districts between 2002 and 2006. It transpires from the graph that although uThungulu has a lower labour participation rate than Amajuba (Figure 4.7), the former fails to absorb even the few people that are readily available for work; the average unemployment rate for uThungulu was 46.8 percent against 45.4 percent for Amajuba. This is a serious condition and needs probing and appropriate correction.

As could be expected, the unemployment rate was higher among Blacks than the other population groups. This ranged between 47.0 percent (uMgungundlovu) and 75.1 percent (uMzinyathi). UThungulu’s respective figure was 50.8 percent.

3 Expanded definition; includes those unemployed but not actively seeking a job.

Employment

Total employment

During the same period, KwaZulu-Natal employment totaled an annual average of 2,1 million workers. UThungulu had the third highest employment after uMgungundlovu and the Metro (Figure 8.9). This reflects dual economy syndrome in the district as there are impressively a sizeable number of workers among a significant number of unemployed others.

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 8.10). As in the total employment, uThungulu’s formal employment held the third position too, after uMgungundlovu and the Metro – all the three districts had higher than provincial average formal employment.

Figure 8.10 also reveals why Amajuba has been able to absorb its labour force faster than uThungulu; the district had the lowest formal employment share to its total employment (64.4%).

The formal employment sector in uThungulu was quite ‘balanced’ between the five major employing economic sectors (Community Services4, Manufacturing, Agriculture, Finance and Trade). The district’s Community Services was the biggest employer (22.1%), followed by Manufacturing (19.9%), Agriculture (13.8%) and Trade (9.9%). The least contributors to formal employment were Electricity (0.7%) and Construction, Mining (4.5 percent each).

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 8.11). This shows that the education-and-health inclined provincial expenditure budget reaches this district proportionately.

4 This was the most dominant sector in all the districts except eThekwini, Amajuba, iLembe and Sisonke. In fact, in all the districts, it was one of the two leading sectors with either Manufacturing or Agriculture.

Informal employment

Informal sector employment was recorded mainly in Manufacturing, Construction, Trade, Transport, Finance and Community Services. In all the districts, Trade was the main employer with all but four districts having more than half employment in this sector. UThungulu was one of the leading districts in informal Trade employment5 (Figure 8.12). Given the district’s geographical location, this employment could be parallel to the formal Trade employment (see Figure 8.13), but to a less extent in Hotels and Restaurants.

5 An unfortunate hindrance is the absence of detailed data on this issue.

Crime

Between 2002 and 2007, there has been a consistent decline in reported incidences of crime in the province (2.45% annual average). The overall number of crimes reported in uThungulu has declined by 18.2 percent over the same period.

However, 2003 forwards have seen a similar experience, though with differing magnitudes. The provincial collapse rate in crime was 5.1 percent, while uThungulu’s respective figure was 4.1 percent; this was the third lowest achievement after eThekwini and iLembe.

Land Cover and Use

KwaZulu-Natal’s land size is 93,378 km2 (approximately 8 percent of the South African land). UThungulu’s size is about 9 percent of this; the sixth largest cover after Zululand (15.9%), uMkhanyakude (13.7%), uThukela (12.1%), Sisonke (11.9%) and uMgungundlovu (9.6%).

UThungulu’s largest share of the land is covered in unimproved grasslands, followed by thicket & bushland. The important ‘cultivated’ and ‘forest’ coverages are relatively small (Figure 8.15).

Given the escalating agricultural (particularly food) prices in the province (the country and the world), the barren land could be used to expand the productive piece.

Social Development

Where is King Cetshwayo ranked with other district municipalities in terms of development? Figure 8.16 shows average poverty rate, HDI, illiteracy rate and no schooling rate across districts from 2002 until 2006. UThungulu (at 57.3%) is among the districts with lowest poverty rate, although still slightly above the provincial average (53.1%). It ranked third after eThekwini (29.8%) and uMgungundlovu (50.2%). UMzinyathi, uMkhanyakude and Zululand were districts with the highest poverty rate.

Unlike with its poverty rate, King Cetshwayo District is a bit behind in terms of HDI. It is the fourth highest DM after eThekwini (67.0%), uMgungundlovu (59.0%) and Amajuba (55.0%). This is not surprising seeing that the district is the fifth lowest in terms of illiteracy rate (36.8%) and, fourth highest district in terms of no schooling rate (22.1%).

The relatively low poverty rate (although still at 50s) with high level of household income and high rate of no schooling in uThungulu suggests that there may be more number of uneducated self-employed people in the district. Hence, if empowered through education and skills development, one would be able to see a greater reduction in the number of the poor living in this district.

Contact Details

• MM: Mr B B Biyela
  Private Bag X 1025 Richards Bay 3900
  UThungulu House Kruger Rand
  UThungulu House Kruger Rand
  Fax: 035 789 1641 / 035 789 1409
  E-mail: sceo@uthungulu.co.za
  rheedersc@uthungulu.co.za Website: www.uthungulu.org.za

Local Municipality	Telephone	Facsimile	E-mail
Mbonambi	035 580 4963 / 1421	035 580 1141	nkosim@mbonambi.co.za
UMhlathuze	035 907 5000	035 907 5444 / 51	sibekonj@richemp.org.za
Ntambanana	035 792 7093	035 792 7094	mngunir@ntambanana.org.za hlophes@ntambanana.org.za
Umlalazi	035 473 3474	035 474 4733	simon@umlalazi.org.za Khosi@umlalazi.org.za
Mthonjaneni	035 450 2082	035 450 3224	meltlc@mweb.co.za mmsec@mthonjaneni.org.za
Nkandla	035 833 2000	035 833 0920	mngonyama@nkandla.org.za mngonyama@nkandla.org.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:

http://www.kwazulunatal.gov.za