Ethekwini
Encyclopedia
eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality
created in 2000 that includes the city of Durban
, South Africa
and surrounding towns. eThekwini is one of the 11 districts
of KwaZulu-Natal
province of South Africa
. The majority of its 3,090,126 people speak Zulu
(2001 census). It was formed from seven formerly independent local councils and tribal land.
Ethekwini is probably the locative form of itheku ("bay" or "lagoon"). There is, however, a suggestion that it is derived from the Xhosa iteko, meaning "a meeting place", and that it was brought to the area by British settlers in 1824, many of whom had learnt Xhosa while in the Cape.
In an 1859 Zulu grammar book, Bishop Colenso
asserted that the root word means "bay of the sea" and noted that the locative form, , was used as a proper name for Durban
.
An 1895 English-Zulu dictionary translates the base word as "bay", "creek", "gulf" or "sinus", while a 1905 Zulu-English dictionary notes that is used for Durban
.
.
.
dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo
has members in more than 30 settlements in eThekwini. Abahlali have campaigned vigorously against evictions, against forced removals and for basic services and ongoing democratic consultation. At times there has been serious conflict between Abahlali and the municipal government.
Metropolitan municipality (South Africa)
In South Africa, a metropolitan municipality or Category A municipality is a municipality which executes all the functions of local government for a city or conurbation...
created in 2000 that includes the city of Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
and surrounding towns. eThekwini is one of the 11 districts
Districts of South Africa
South Africa is divided into 52 districts . The 12th amendment to the Constitution reduced this number from 53. Another effect of this amendment is that each district is now completely contained within a province, thus eliminating cross-border districts. The districts also cover the entire area of...
of KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal
KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....
province of South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
. The majority of its 3,090,126 people speak Zulu
Zulu language
Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...
(2001 census). It was formed from seven formerly independent local councils and tribal land.
Etymology
The derivation of the word eThekwini is debated, and neither the eThekwini Heritage Department nor the eThekwini Metropolitan Unicity Municipality have published a decisive etymology.Ethekwini is probably the locative form of itheku ("bay" or "lagoon"). There is, however, a suggestion that it is derived from the Xhosa iteko, meaning "a meeting place", and that it was brought to the area by British settlers in 1824, many of whom had learnt Xhosa while in the Cape.
In an 1859 Zulu grammar book, Bishop Colenso
John William Colenso
John William Colenso , first Anglican bishop of Natal, mathematician, theologian, Biblical scholar and social activist.-Biography:Colenso was born at St Austell, Cornwall, on 24 January 1814...
asserted that the root word means "bay of the sea" and noted that the locative form, , was used as a proper name for Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
.
An 1895 English-Zulu dictionary translates the base word as "bay", "creek", "gulf" or "sinus", while a 1905 Zulu-English dictionary notes that is used for Durban
Durban
Durban is the largest city in the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal and the third largest city in South Africa. It forms part of the eThekwini metropolitan municipality. Durban is famous for being the busiest port in South Africa. It is also seen as one of the major centres of tourism...
.
Geography
eThekwini is surrounded by:- iLembeILembe District MunicipalityiLembe is one of the 11 district municipalities of KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. The seat of iLembe is KwaDukuza . The majority of its 560 409 people speak Zulu...
(DC29) to the north - the Indian oceanIndian OceanThe Indian Ocean is the third largest of the world's oceanic divisions, covering approximately 20% of the water on the Earth's surface. It is bounded on the north by the Indian Subcontinent and Arabian Peninsula ; on the west by eastern Africa; on the east by Indochina, the Sunda Islands, and...
to the east - UguUgu District MunicipalityUgu is one of the 11 districts of KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Ugu is Zulu for "coast". The seat of Ugu is Port Shepstone. The majority of its 704 001 people speak IsiZulu...
(DC21) to the south - UmgungundlovuUmgungundlovu District MunicipalityUmgungundlovu is one of the 11 district municipalities of KwaZulu-Natal province. The seat of Umgungundlovu is Pietermaritzburg. The majority of its 927 834 people speak Zulu...
(DC22) to the west
Demographics
The following statistics are from the 2001 censusCensus
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
.
| Language | Population | % |
|---|---|---|
| Zulu Zulu language Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population... |
1 948 061 | 63.04% |
| English English language English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria... |
925 671 | 29.96% |
| Xhosa Xhosa language Xhosa is one of the official languages of South Africa. Xhosa is spoken by approximately 7.9 million people, or about 18% of the South African population. Like most Bantu languages, Xhosa is a tonal language, that is, the same sequence of consonants and vowels can have different meanings when said... |
106 110 | 3.43% |
| Afrikaans Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic language, spoken natively in South Africa and Namibia. It is a daughter language of Dutch, originating in its 17th century dialects, collectively referred to as Cape Dutch .Afrikaans is a daughter language of Dutch; see , , , , , .Afrikaans was historically called Cape... |
44 438 | 1.44% |
| Other | 28 866 | 0.93% |
| Sotho | 21 587 | 0.70% |
| Ndebele | 6 041 | 0.20% |
| Northern Sotho | 3 266 | 0.11% |
| Swati Swati language The Swazi or Swati language is a Bantu language of the Nguni group spoken in Swaziland and South Africa by the Swazi people. The number of speakers is estimated to be in the region of 3 million. The language is taught in Swaziland and some South African schools in Mpumalanga and KaNgwane areas... |
2 433 | 0.08% |
| Tswana Tswana language Tswana or Setswana is a language spoken in Southern Africa by about 4.5 million people. It is a Bantu language belonging to the Niger–Congo language family within the Sotho languages branch of Zone S , and is closely related to the Northern- and Southern Sotho languages, as well as the Kgalagadi... |
1 807 | 0.06% |
| Tsonga Tsonga language The Tsonga or Xitsonga language is spoken in southern Africa by the Tsonga people, also known as the Shangaan.- Classification :Tsonga belongs to the Bantu branch of the Niger–Congo languages... |
1 356 | 0.04% |
| Venda Venda Venda was a bantustan in northern South Africa, now part of Limpopo province. It was founded as a homeland for the Venda people, speakers of the Venda language. It bordered modern Zimbabwe and South Africa, and is now part of Limpopo in South Africa.... |
484 | 0.02% |
Gender
| Gender | Population | % |
|---|---|---|
| Female | 1 605 080 | 51.94% |
| Male | 1 485 046 | 48.06% |
Ethnic group
| Ethnic group | Population | % |
|---|---|---|
| Black African | 2 110 594 | 68.30% |
| Indian/Asian | 614 829 | 19.90% |
| White | 277 429 | 8.98% |
| Coloured | 87 274 | 2.82% |
Age
| Age | Population | % |
|---|---|---|
| 000 - 004 | 273 097 | 8.84% |
| 005 - 009 | 286 606 | 9.27% |
| 010 - 014 | 294 820 | 9.54% |
| 015 - 019 | 323 345 | 10.46% |
| 020 - 024 | 331 475 | 10.73% |
| 025 - 029 | 316 326 | 10.24% |
| 030 - 034 | 256 429 | 8.30% |
| 035 - 039 | 236 009 | 7.64% |
| 040 - 044 | 195 032 | 6.31% |
| 045 - 049 | 154 640 | 5.00% |
| 050 - 054 | 129 097 | 4.18% |
| 055 - 059 | 91 991 | 2.98% |
| 060 - 064 | 72 334 | 2.34% |
| 065 - 069 | 50 020 | 1.62% |
| 070 - 074 | 37 078 | 1.20% |
| 075 - 079 | 21 847 | 0.71% |
| 080 - 084 | 12 877 | 0.42% |
| 085 - 089 | 4 678 | 0.15% |
| 090 - 094 | 1 717 | 0.06% |
| 095 - 099 | 560 | 0.02% |
| 100 plus | 148 | 0.00% |
Election results
Election results for eThekwini in the South African general election, 2009South African general election, 2009
South Africa held national and provincial elections to elect a new National Assembly as well as the provincial legislature in each province on 22 April 2009....
.
- Population 18 and over: 1 639 153
- Total votes: 1 331 246
- Voting % estimate: 81.22% votes as a % of population 18 and over
Party Votes % African National Congress African National CongressThe African National Congress is South Africa's governing Africanist political party, supported by its tripartite alliance with the Congress of South African Trade Unions and the South African Communist Party , since the establishment of non-racial democracy in April 1994. It defines itself as a...
888 703 67.52% Democratic Alliance 267 464 18.04% Inkhata Freedom Party Inkatha Freedom PartyThe Inkatha Freedom Party is a political party in South Africa. Since its founding, it has been led by Mangosuthu Buthelezi. It is currently the fourth largest party in the National Assembly of South Africa.-History:...
89 650 6.81% Congress of the People 33 873 2.57% Minority Front 32 902 2.50% African Christian Democratic Party 10 852 0.82% Independent Democrats 4 330 0.33% Al Jama-ah Al Jama-ahAl Jama-ah is a South African political party. It was formed in 2007, and contested the national election, as well the Western Cape and KwaZulu Natal provincial elections in the 2009 general elections....
4 033 0.31% United Democratic Movement 3 231 0.25% AZAPO 1 679 0.13% Movement Democratic Party 1 534 0.12% Freedom Front Plus 1 436 0.11% APC 1 192 0.09% Nadeco 1 016 0.08% PAC 595 0.05% United Christian Democratic Party 574 0.05% Total 1 331 246 100.00%
Non-party politics
The shackShack
A shack is a type of small house, usually in a state of disrepair. The word may derive from the Nahuatl word xacalli or "adobe house" by way of Mexican Spanish xacal/jacal, which has the same meaning as "shack". It was a common usage among people of Mexican ancestry throughout the U.S...
dwellers' movement Abahlali baseMjondolo
Abahlali baseMjondolo
Abahlali baseMjondolo , also known as AbM or the red shirts is a shack-dwellers' movement in South Africa which is well known for its campaigning for public housing. The movement grew out of a road blockade organized from the Kennedy Road shack settlement in the city of Durban in early 2005 and now...
has members in more than 30 settlements in eThekwini. Abahlali have campaigned vigorously against evictions, against forced removals and for basic services and ongoing democratic consultation. At times there has been serious conflict between Abahlali and the municipal government.
See also
- Durban Industry Climate Change Partnership ProjectDurban Industry Climate Change Partnership ProjectDurban Industry Climate Change Partnership Project is a project aimed at facilitating industry response to climate change in the eThekwini Municipality , South Africa...
(DICCPP) - Municipal Demarcation BoardMunicipal Demarcation BoardThe Municipal Demarcation Board is an independent authority responsible for delimiting the boundaries of South African districts and municipalities and the boundaries of the electoral wards within those municipalities.- General :...
External links
- Stats SA Census 2001 page
- Independent Electoral Commission 2004 election results
- eThekwini Online The official site of Durban, South Africa