What is the name of Newcastle Municipality?

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[edit]

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

Place Code Area (km2) 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[edit]

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. 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