Newcastle Local Municipality

Newcastle
Local municipality
Seal
Location in KwaZulu-Natal
Country	South Africa
Province	KwaZulu-Natal
District	Amajuba
Seat	Newcastle
Wards	34
Government [1]
• Type	Municipal council
Area
• Total	1,855 km^2 (716 sq mi)
Population  (2011)[2]
• Total	363,236
• Density	200/km^2 (510/sq mi)
Racial makeup (2011) [2]
• Black African	91.9%
• Coloured	0.8%
• Indian/Asian	3.2%
• White	3.9%
First languages (2011) [3]
• Zulu	85.6%
• English	6.4%
• Afrikaans	3.5%
• Other	4.5%
Time zone	UTC+2 (SAST)
Municipal code	KZN252

Newcastle Municipality (Zulu: UMasipala wase Newcastle) is a local municipality within the Amajuba District Municipality, in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa.

Main places

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

Place	Code	Area (km^2)	Population
Charlestown	52401	18.48	3,204
Hlubi	52402	108.11	73,931
Madadeni	52403	25.15	116,798
Newcastle	52404	199.06	44,123
Ngagane	52405	4.90	1,206
Osizweni	52406	15.35	80,265
Remainder of the municipality	52408	1,483.87	13,449

Politics

Main article: Newcastle Local Municipality elections

The municipal council consists of sixty-seven members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Thirty-four councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in thirty-four wards, while the remaining thirty-three 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) lost its majority, obtaining a plurality of twenty-two seats. A coalition was formed between the IFP, Team Sugar, DA, ActionSA and the FF+ to keep the ANC out. The IFP as the largest party in the coalition took the position of Mayor (Xolani Dube) and Speaker of council (Thengi Zulu), while Team Sugar took the deputy mayor position (Musa Thwala), ActionSA the Chief whip position (Faizel Cassim) and the DA were given MPAC (Municipal Public Accounts Committee). The following table shows the results of the election.[5]

Party		Ward			List			Total seats
		Votes	%	Seats	Votes	%	Seats
	African National Congress	25,019	30.84	21	25,658	31.76	1	22
	Inkatha Freedom Party	19,518	24.06	6	21,712	26.88	12	18
	Economic Freedom Fighters	9,746	12.01	0	9,775	12.10	8	8
	Team Sugar South Africa	8,167	10.07	2	8,541	10.57	5	7
	Democratic Alliance	6,146	7.58	4	6,109	7.56	1	5
	ActionSA	2,772	3.42	1	2,898	3.59	2	3
	Independent candidates	3,855	4.75	0				0
	Freedom Front Plus	990	1.22	0	978	1.21	1	1
	National Freedom Party	846	1.04	0	966	1.20	1	1
	Patriotic Alliance	614	0.76	0	560	0.69	1	1
	African Transformation Movement	467	0.58	0	499	0.62	1	1
	16 other parties	2,977	3.67	0	3,084	3.82	0	0
Total		81,117	100.00	34	80,780	100.00	33	67
Valid votes		81,117	97.90		80,780	97.89
Invalid/blank votes		1,740	2.10		1,741	2.11
Total votes		82,857	100.00		82,521	100.00
Registered voters/turnout		181,563	45.64		181,563	45.45

After a series of by-elections, the composition of the municipal council as of 18 July 2024 is as follows: IFP 23, ANC 17, EFF 8, Team Sugar 6, DA 6, Action SA 3, FF+ 1, NFP 1, PA 1, ATM 1.[6]

References

1. "Contact list: Executive Mayors". Government Communication & Information System. Archived from the original on 14 July 2010. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
2. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
3. "Statistics by place". Statistics South Africa. Retrieved 27 September 2015.
4. Lookup Tables - Statistics South Africa
5. "Election Result Table for LGE2021 — Newcastle". wikitable.frith.dev. Retrieved 2021-12-02.
6. Sussman, Wayne. "IFP deals bitter setback for Team Sugar, MK in KZN, ANC cleans up in Eastern Cape, North West wards". Daily Maverick. Retrieved 2024-07-19.

External links

• http://www.newcastle.gov.za/

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