# Maphumulo Local Municipality

Maphumulo Local Municipality is an administrative area in the iLembe District of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. Maphumulo is an isiZulu name meaning "place of rest".
The municipality is predominantly rural, comprising mostly tribal land, which is administered by the Ingonyama Trust on behalf of local communities. Sugar-cane cultivation is the predominant economic activity and land use in the municipality. Subsistence agricultural activities in the form of small cropping areas attached to traditional family units dominate land usage.
The only major town in the municipality is Maphumulo.

## Main places

The 2001 census divided the municipality into the following main places:
| Place | Code | Area (km$^2$) | Population |
| Amabhedu | 54601 | 27.75 | 6,159 |
| Cele | 54602 | 21.80 | 1,201 |
| Embo | 54603 | 38.96 | 4,704 |
| Hlongwa | 54604 | 33.88 | 7,044 |
| Mabomvini | 54605 | 118.39 | 13,850 |
| Mkhonto | 54606 | 255.76 | 35,208 |
| Mpungose | 54607 | 9.62 | 949 |
| Ngcolosi | 54608 | 177.93 | 19,370 |
| Nodunga | 54609 | 58.95 | 3,959 |
| Qadi | 54610 | 30.28 | 5,710 |
| Qwabe/Waterfall | 54611 | 80.50 | 16,906 |
| Zubane | 54612 | 41.25 | 5,594 |

## Politics

The municipal council consists of twenty-three members elected by mixed-member proportional representation. Twelve councillors are elected by first-past-the-post voting in twelve wards, while the remaining eleven 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 eleven 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 | 12,543 | 46.97 | 6 | 12,288 | 46.74 | 5 | 11 |
| | Inkatha Freedom Party | 11,152 | 41.76 | 6 | 11,183 | 42.54 | 4 | 10 |
| | Economic Freedom Fighters | 861 | 3.22 | 0 | 870 | 3.31 | 1 | 1 |
| | Independent Alliance | 247 | 0.92 | 0 | 454 | 1.73 | 1 | 1 |
| | Democratic Alliance | 332 | 1.24 | 0 | 313 | 1.19 | 0 | 0 |
| | African Independent Congress | 245 | 0.92 | 0 | 249 | 0.95 | 0 | 0 |
| | Independent candidates | 455 | 1.70 | 0 | | | | 0 |
| | Abantu Batho Congress | 219 | 0.82 | 0 | 234 | 0.89 | 0 | 0 |
| | National Freedom Party | 172 | 0.64 | 0 | 194 | 0.74 | 0 | 0 |
| | African People First | 181 | 0.68 | 0 | 167 | 0.64 | 0 | 0 |
| | Justice and Employment Party | 173 | 0.65 | 0 | 154 | 0.59 | 0 | 0 |
| | African Christian Democratic Party | 82 | 0.31 | 0 | 81 | 0.31 | 0 | 0 |
| | African People's Movement | 25 | 0.09 | 0 | 37 | 0.14 | 0 | 0 |
| | Congress of the People | 10 | 0.04 | 0 | 39 | 0.15 | 0 | 0 |
| | African Transformation Movement | 10 | 0.04 | 0 | 28 | 0.11 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | 26,707 | 100.00 | 12 | 26,291 | 100.00 | 11 | 23 |
| Valid votes | Valid votes | 26,707 | 97.67 | | 26,291 | 97.60 | | |
| Invalid/blank votes | Invalid/blank votes | 638 | 2.33 | | 647 | 2.40 | | |
| Total votes | Total votes | 27,345 | 100.00 | | 26,938 | 100.00 | | |
| Registered voters/turnout | Registered voters/turnout | 49,978 | 54.71 | | 49,978 | 53.90 | | |