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| Capital | Pietermaritzburg and Ulundi (shared) | ||||
| Largest City | Durban | ||||
| Premier | S'bu Ndebele | ||||
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92,100 km² | ||||
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KwaZulu-Natal (often referred to as "KZN") is a province of South Africa. South Africa's most populous province is aptly called the garden province and is the home of the Zulu nation. It extends from the borders with Swaziland and Mozambique to the Eastern Cape border in the south. Inland it is bound by the Kingdom of Lesotho, and the Free State and Mpumalanga provinces.
History
The coast of Natal was first sighted by Europeans by Vasco da Gama on Christmas Day 1497. Christmas in Portuguese is Natal, this gave the original name to the region.
When the Bantustan of KwaZulu (meaning the place of the Zulu) was re-incorporated into the Natal province after the end of Apartheid in 1994, the province was renamed KwaZulu-Natal. The province is home to the Zulu monarchy, and the majority population and language of the province are Zulu. It is also the only province in South Africa which includes the name of its dominant ethnic group in its name.
Wars fought on KwaZulu-Natal's soil
Geography
The province has three different geographic areas: the lowland region along the Indian Ocean coast; plains in the central section; and two mountainous areas, the Drakensberg Mountains in the west and the Lebombo Mountains in the north. The Tugela River flows west to east across the center of the province. Average temperatures in the province range from 17° to 28° C October to April and from 11° to 25° C in the colder months. Annual rainfall is about 690 mm, falling throughout the year.
Fauna and flora
- The Botanic Gardens (Durban)
- Burman Bush (Durban)
- The Greater St Lucia Wetland Park
- Hluhluwe-Umfolozi Game Reserve
- Itala Game Reserve
- Lubombo Transfrontier Conservation Area links the Maputo Elephant Reserve (Mozambique) through the Futi Corridor (including parts of Swaziland) to the Tembe Elephant Park in KwaZulu-Natal.
- Phinda Resource Reserve
- Queen Elizabeth Park (Pietermaritzburg)
- Maloti-Drakensberg Transfrontier Conservation Area links the Sehlaba-Thebe National Park (Lesotho) and the Natal Drakensberg Park in KwaZulu-Natal.
- Mkuze Game Reserve
- National Botanical Garden (Pietermaritzburg)
- Oribi Gorge
- Ukhahlamba Drakensberg Park
- Vernon Crookes Nature Resrve
Law and government
The African National Congress (ANC) did not win an absolute majority in KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa's 2004 elections.
Provincial Government
The KwaZulu-Natal's provincial government sits in the legislative buildings in Pietermaritzburg.
The site where the legislative buildings are situated was occupied by St Mary's Church, which was built in the 1860's. A new church was built at the corner of Burger Street and Commercial Road, and opened in 1884. The old building was demolished in 1887 to provide space for the legislative complex. The foundation stone of the new legislative building was laid on 21 June 1887, to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. The building was completed two years later. On 25 April 1889, the Governor of Natal, Sir Arthur Havelock, opened the first Legislative Council session in the new building.
When governance was granted to Natal in 1893, the new Legislative Assembly took over the chamber that was used by the Legislative Council since 1889. Further extensions to the parliamentary building were made. The building was unoccupied until 1902 when it was used without being officially opened, due to the fact that the country was engulfed in the Anglo-Boer war. The war also affected the Legislative Assembly, which had to move the venue of its sittings when the chamber was used as a military hospital.
The Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council buildings, both national monuments, formed a colonial Parliament of two houses: a Council of 11 nominated members and an Assembly of 37 elected members. The Natal Parliament was disbanded in 1910 when the Union of South Africa was formed, and the Assembly became the meeting place of the Natal Provincial Council. The Council was disbanded in 1986.
The Provincial Government Legislature consists of 80 Members.
Breakup of the 80-seat legislature from the 2004 elections:
- African National Congress (ANC) - 38
- Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) - 30
- Democratic Alliance (DA) - 7
- African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) - 2
- Minority Front (MF) - 2
- United Democratic Movement (UDM) - 1
Zulu Monarch
Economy
Durban is a rapidly growing urban area (second largest city in South Africa) and is the busiest port in Africa with a good rail network linking into Southern Africa. Sugar refining is the main industry. Sheep, cattle, diary, citrus fruits, corn, sorghum, cotton, bananas, and pineapples are also raised. Industries, located mainly in and around Durban, include (besides sugar refineries) textile, clothing, rubber, fertilizer, paper, and food-processing plants, tanneries, and oil refineries. There large aluminum-smelting plants at Richards Bay, on the central coast. The province produces considerable coal (especially coke) and timber. About 82% of the population is black. During apartheid, a large percentage were forced to live in Bantu homelands (Bantustans), which had a subsistence economy based on cattle raising and corn growing.
Demographics
KwaZulu-Natal has the largest population per province in South Africa (as of 2001 Census see South African Statistics).
The majority of the people (56.9%) live in rural areas, and the economy is primarily agricultural. The region has an estimated 65% literacy rate. Unemployment stands at over 50%.
| Population groups | Languages Spoken | ||||
| African | 84.9% | IsiZulu | 80.9% | ||
| Asian | 8.5% | English | 13.6% | ||
| White | 5.1% | IsiXhosa | 2.3% | ||
| Coloured | 1.5% | Afrikaans | 1.5% | ||
Major cities and towns
Cities
Major Towns
Dundee, Empangeni, Estcourt, Glencoe, Howick, Kokstad, Ladysmith, Madadeni, Mpumalanga, Newcastle, Port Shepstone, Richards Bay, Stanger, Tongaat, Ulundi, Vryheid
Other Towns
Ballito, Colenso, Eshowe, Greytown, Ingwavuma, Margate, Nongoma, Scottburgh, Umzinto
Colleges and universities
As of the 2001 Census 22.9% of the population in KwaZulu-Natal aged 20 years or more have received no education, while only 4.8% have higher education.
- University of KwaZulu-Natal merger of the University of Natal and the University of Durban-Westville
- Durban Institute of Technology merger of ML Sultan Technikon and Natal Technikon
- Mangosuthu Technikon
Sport
Trivia
- According to the 2001 census isiZulu is the mother tongue of 23.8% of South Africa's roughly 45 million people, followed by isiXhosa at 17.6%, Afrikaans at 13.3%, Sepedi at 9.4%, and English at 8.2%.