In the heart of KwaZulu-Natal

MSUNDUZI is a local municipality in Umgungundlovu District Municipality. It encompasses the city of Pietermaritzburg, which is the capital of the KwaZulu-Natal province and the main economic hub of Umgungundlovu District Municipality.

The municipal area is situated on the N3 highway at a junction of an industrial corridor (from Durban to Pietermaritzburg) and an agro-industrial corridor (stretching from Pietermaritzburg to Estcourt). On the regional scale, it is located at the cross section of the N3 corridor and the Greytown Road corridor to the north, a tourist route to Drakensberg and Kokstad Road to the south.

Economic sectors that are active in the area include:  industrial - aluminium, footwear, textiles, furniture, wood products, electronics, motor components; agriculture - timber, beef, dairy, sugarcane, citrus, exotic fruit, cut flowers; and tourism - parks and gardens, historical buildings and architecture, dams.

Pietermaritzburg is regarded as the provincial and national centre of educational excellence. Pietermaritzburg is home to the University of KwaZulu-Natal and several other institutions of higher learning.

Locally produced goods include wattle bark extract, furniture, footwear, chocolate and cloth. Motor vehicles are assembled in the city, and iron ore is mined nearby.

However, the legacy of apartheid is still felt in the uneven development between the suburbs and city centre, and the poorly developed townships and surrounding rural settlements.

While the city serves as the provincial capital, much more is required to provide the economic opportunities needed to ensure employment and adequate livelihoods for all.

Pietermaritzburg, set amidst forested hills and the rolling countryside of the Natal-Midlands, is one of the best-preserved Victorian cities in the world. Laid out by Dutch settlers in 1838, it became the capital of the British Colony of Natal in 1856. In that same year a Christian Mission was established in what was to become Georgetown, and the first landowning Black community in our country. Indian labourers and traders also made their way to the city in the second half of the nineteenth century.

Read more for an archive of news stories relating to Msunduzi.

Contacts

Executive Mayor: Chris Ndlela
Tel: 033 392 2011
 

City Manager: Thokozani Maseko
Tel: 033 392 2013