The municipality in South Africa that only spends R1,000 on each resident – where kings live – BusinessTech
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The Nongoma municipality in KwaZulu-Natal spends the least on residents out of all municipalities in South Africa, but it is also home to the Zulu royal family.
Stats SA states South Africa’s 257 municipalities spent R532 billion in 2022, including operational and capital expenditures.
When considering the population of 62 million, municipalities across the country spend an average of R8,572 per resident.
When looking at individual municipalities, the highest spending per resident is in the Gamagara municipality in the Northern Cape, where R23,201 is spent per resident.
Despite being a sparsely populated municipality in South Africa’s most sparsely populated province, Gamagara is home to Kathu, where Kumba Iron Ore’s flagship mine, Kishen, is found.
At the bottom of the list is the Nongoma local municipality, which only spends R1,389 per resident.
Roughly an eighth of the national average and a twentieth of what Gamagara pays.
That said, this should be taken with a grain of salt, as district municipalities were not included in the comparison.
“This is because each district oversees several local municipalities. If there is district expenditure that targets residents on the ground, it is not clear from the data how this spending is allocated across local areas,” said Stats SA.
“Districts mainly fill an administrative function. However, there are several districts—mainly in rural provinces—that help with the provision of services, which is reflected in their financial reports.”
“In other words, the analysis above excludes the benefits that may arise from district municipal spending, especially in provinces where districts play a more active role.”
Nongoma is a local municipality, but it falls within the greater Zululand municipality, so the actual expenditure could be slightly higher.
Life in the municipality
Nongoma is found in the centre of northern KwaZulu-Natal and is one of five local municipalities within the Zululand District Municipality.
It has three traditional authorities, named Mandlakazi, Usuthu and Matheni.
Moreover, it is the only area in the world with six Royal Palaces.
As the King of the Zulu nation residents in Nongoma, it is considered the heart of the Zulu Kingdom (IHlalankosi).
With its links to the Zulu royal family, Nongoma is set to be renamed as the King Goodwill Zwelithini Local Municipality after the former ruler who died in 2021.
According to the municipality’s website, Nongoma is surrounded by international tourist attractions such as the iSimangaliso Wetland Park and the Hluhluwe-Imfolozi Game Reserve.
However, most reports on the municipality are negative, with the area plagued by political violence, corruption and maladministration.
In the last few months, an IFP councillor was killed, councillors were threatened to take bribes, senior officials were arrested, pension funds were not paid to municipal employees, the municipality had to approach banks for an overdraft to pay staff salaries, and the municipality faces an R58 shortfall.
In addition, data from the 2022 census shows that the area is incredibly underdeveloped.
Although 88% of the local municipalities’ 225,278 residents live in formal dwellings, 43.9% do not have access to piped water.
Only 20.1% have access to piped water within the dwelling.
44.7% of residents use pit toilets, while only 17.6% use a flushing toilet.
That said, this is an improvement from 2011 when only 6.1% of flush toilets were connected to sewage.
Electricity usage is better, with 75.4% using electricity from mains for cooking and 96.6% using electricity from mains for lighting.
Notably, the average household size increased from an already sizable 5.7 in the 2011 census to 7.0 in 2022.
Education levels vary greatly, with 38.3% of residents having a matric.
However, 27.5% of residents have some form of secondary education, 3.7% have only completed primary education (grade 7), 10.4% have only some form of primary education, and 15% have had no schooling at all.
Only 4.7% of residents had a higher education degree.
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