# 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.

## Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:
| Place | Code | Area (km$^2$) | Population |
| Bazley Beach | 50201 | 1.36 | 193 |
| KwaCele | 50202 | 25.55 | 12,338 |
| Elysium | 50203 | 1.58 | 163 |
| Emalangeni | 50204 | 20.69 | 9,962 |
| Ezembeni | 50205 | 24.62 | 9,872 |
| Ifafa Beach | 50206 | 0.49 | 234 |
| Ifafa Marina | 50207 | 0.5 | 217 |
| Kelso | 50208 | 5.93 | 1,178 |
| Mtwalume | 50209 | 2.84 | 368 |
| Park Rynie | 50210 | 7.78 | 2,923 |
| Pennington | 50211 | 2.47 | 1,278 |
| Scottburgh | 50212 | 5.38 | 3,107 |
| Sezela | 50213 | 7.36 | 1,604 |
| Umzinto | 50215 | 12.5 | 1,4720 |
| Remainder of the municipality | 50214 | 118.87 | 4,138 |

## Politics

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.
| Party | Party | Ward | Ward | Ward | List | List | List | Total seats |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | Total 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 | Total | 34,081 | 100.00 | 19 | 34,044 | 100.00 | 18 | 37 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 34,081 | 98.25 | | 34,044 | 97.83 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 606 | 1.75 | | 756 | 2.17 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 34,687 | 100.00 | | 34,800 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | 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 previous councillor | Party of the newly elected councillor | Party of the newly elected councillor |
| 27 July 2022 | 52102013 | | Democratic Alliance | | African National Congress |
After the by-election, the council was reconfigured as below:
| Party | Party | Seats | Seats | Seats |
| Party | Party | 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 | Total | 19 | 18 | 37 |