Page 14 - KZN Top Business Portfolio 2021/22- eBook

KWAZULU-NATAL
IN CONTEXT

Location Climate
KwaZulu-Natal is one of the nine provinces in South The summer-rainfall coastal regions are hot and
Africa. Situated on the east coast of the country, humid, with a subtropical climate. The midlands area
KwaZulu-Natal neighbours three other provinces: is drier, with extremely cold conditions in winter and
Eastern Cape, Mpumalanga and the Free State. snow on the high-lying ground. In the north, the
KwaZulu-Natal borders the countries of Mozambique subtropical strip extends around eSwatini to the edge
and eSwatini in the north, and Lesotho in the south. of the escarpment.
Area Principal Languages
The province is South Africa’s third smallest, taking up The province comprises a multicultural mix of people
7, 7% of the country’s land area and has a total area of and the principal languages are isiZulu, English and
94 361 km². Afrikaans.
Municipalities Monarchy
Local government in KwaZulu-Natal is organised into KwaZulu-Natal, the renowned Zulu Kingdom is the
the eThekwini Metropolitan Council, and ten district only province with a monarchy specifically provided
municipalities, namely: Amajuba; iLembe; Harry Gwala; for in the Constitution. KwaZulu-Natal is the traditional
Ugu; uMgungundlovu; uMkhanyakude; uMzinyathi; home and birthplace of the Zulu people.
uThukela; King Cetshwayo and Zululand. Each district Infrastructure
is further divided into a varying number of local
municipalities. Of major significance is that the ports of Durban
and Richards Bay, around which KwaZulu-Natal is
Main cities and towns established, are two of Africa’s gateways to the sea
Pietermaritzburg (Capital), Durban, Richards Bay, Ballito, lanes of the world. Durban and Richards Bay ports
Umhlanga, Ulundi, Eshowe, Newcastle, Port Shepstone are southern Africa’s busiest in terms of handling car

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