# Mandeni Local Municipality

Mandeni Local Municipality (formerly eNdondakusuka Local Municipality) is an administrative area in the iLembe District of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.
Manufacturing, elementary work and plant and machine work are the highest non-farming categories of labour. Mandeni includes substantial areas of commercial agriculture, with the bulk of these areas under sugar-cane. Agriculture is the main employment sector in the area.

## Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:
| Place | Code | Area (km$^2$) | Population |
| eNdondakusuka | 54301 | 160.30 | 6,126 |
| Hlomendini | 54302 | 24.74 | 1,339 |
| Macambini | 54303 | 161.89 | 34,337 |
| Mandini | 54304 | 10.05 | 3,944 |
| Mathonsi | 54305 | 68.93 | 21,692 |
| Ntunzini | 54306 | 28.32 | 2,412 |
| Sikhonyane | 54307 | 99.53 | 30,125 |
| Sundumbili | 54308 | 8.76 | 24,299 |
| Tugela Mouth | 54310 | 0.59 | 210 |
| Tugela | 54309 | 12.46 | 4,170 |
| Umlalazi Nature Reserve | 54311 | 4.26 | 0 |

## Politics

The municipal council consists of thirty-five members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Eighteen councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in eighteen wards, while the remaining seventeen 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 reduced majority of nineteen seats on the council.
The following table shows the results of the 2021 election.
| Party | Party | Ward | Ward | Ward | List | List | List | Total seats |
| Party | Party | Votes | % | Seats | Votes | % | Seats | Total seats |
| | African National Congress | 17,418 | 51.40 | 16 | 17,930 | 52.82 | 3 | 19 |
| | Inkatha Freedom Party | 8,832 | 26.06 | 2 | 9,307 | 27.42 | 8 | 10 |
| | Economic Freedom Fighters | 3,453 | 10.19 | 0 | 3,647 | 10.74 | 4 | 4 |
| | Democratic Alliance | 781 | 2.30 | 0 | 793 | 2.34 | 1 | 1 |
| | Independent candidates | 1,512 | 4.46 | 0 | | | | 0 |
| | African Independent Congress | 652 | 1.92 | 0 | 680 | 2.00 | 1 | 1 |
| | Justice and Employment Party | 248 | 0.73 | 0 | 413 | 1.22 | 0 | 0 |
| | African Transformation Movement | 268 | 0.79 | 0 | 354 | 1.04 | 0 | 0 |
| | National Freedom Party | 260 | 0.77 | 0 | 334 | 0.98 | 0 | 0 |
| | African Christian Democratic Party | 164 | 0.48 | 0 | 164 | 0.48 | 0 | 0 |
| | Abantu Batho Congress | 138 | 0.41 | 0 | 132 | 0.39 | 0 | 0 |
| | African Federal Convention | 60 | 0.18 | 0 | 55 | 0.16 | 0 | 0 |
| | Al Jama-ah | 50 | 0.15 | 0 | 38 | 0.11 | 0 | 0 |
| | African People's Movement | 26 | 0.08 | 0 | 50 | 0.15 | 0 | 0 |
| | United Christian Democratic Party | 27 | 0.08 | 0 | 48 | 0.14 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 33,889 | 100.00 | 18 | 33,945 | 100.00 | 17 | 35 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 33,889 | 97.53 | | 33,945 | 97.48 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 860 | 2.47 | | 876 | 2.52 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 34,749 | 100.00 | | 34,821 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 74,694 | 46.52 | | 74,694 | 46.62 | | |

## Corruption and assassination

On 31 January 2025, African National Congress councillor Phendukani Mabhida wrote to the regional executive exposing corruption in the Mandeni municipality. Mandeni was assassinated hours before he was due to appear at a meeting to further address these concerns.