Ethekwini

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The correct title of this article is eThekwini. The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions.
A map of South Africa showing eThekwini (within KwaZulu-Natal province)
Enlarge
A map of South Africa showing eThekwini (within KwaZulu-Natal province)

eThekwini is the name of the 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 IsiZulu (2001 Census).

Contents

[edit] Meaning of the Name eThekwini

There is much debate over the meaning of eThekwini, and neither the eThekwini Heritage Department nor the eThekwini Metropolitan Unicity Municipality will state as an absolute fact the derivation of the name.

Some argue that the name is derived from a joke made by the leader of the amaThuli, Chief Shadwa, when the amaThuli settled on the bay; the story is that Chief Shadwa or a jester looked down from the area of today's Berea and said that the bay was a one testicled thing. Certainly, as Adrian Koopman points out in his brilliant work, "Zulu Names"[UNP; Pietermaritzburg-2002] , Elizabeth Pooley's "Complete Field Guide to Trees of Natal, Zululand and the Transkei" has the Tonga-Kerrie recorded with the Zulu name umthekwini, referring to the single round fruit at the end of each stem. This shows that the term "itheku" is or has been used for a one-testicled animal or person, instead of today's "ithweka". It is the fact that the word "itheku" is not used today that leads many to believe that the legend of Shadwa's joke is a myth.

Janie Malherbe made the claim that Bishop Colenso advocated the meaning in his pioneering Zulu to English dictionary of an "open mouth or a bay" for iTeku because of modesty- clearly she did not read his dictionary, which unblushingly gives many explicit words and their definitions.

Commandant Sighurt Bourquin, the well-known authority on the Zulu, pointed out that the shape of the harbour would not be readily apparent when it was covered with mangroves viewed obliquely through the trees.

Probably eThekwini is probably the locative form of itheku- bay, lagoon. There is however a suggestion that it is derived from the Xhosa iteko- a meeting place, and brought to the area by the British Settlers in 1824, many of whom had learnt Xhosa whilst in the Cape

[edit] Geography

[edit] Neighbours

eThekwini is surrounded by:


[edit] Demographics

Geographical distribution of home languages in Greater Durban (eThekwini).
Enlarge
Geographical distribution of home languages in Greater Durban (eThekwini).

The following statistics are from the 2001 census.


Language Population %
IsiZulu 1 948 061 63.04%
English 925 671 29.96%
IsiXhosa 106 110 3.43%
Afrikaans 44 438 1.44%
Other 28 866 0.93%
Sesotho 21 587 0.70%
IsiNdebele 6 041 0.20%
Sepedi 3 266 0.11%
SiSwati 2 433 0.08%
Setswana 1 807 0.06%
Xitsonga 1 356 0.04%
Tshivenda 484 0.02%

[edit] Gender

Gender Population %
Female 1 605 080 51.94%
Male 1 485 046 48.06%

[edit] 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%

[edit] 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%

[edit] Politics

[edit] Election results

Election results for eThekwini in the South African general election, 2004.

  • Population 18 and over: 2 046 814 [66.24% of total population]
  • Total votes: 978 383 [31.66% of total population]
  • Voting % estimate: 47.80% votes as a % of population 18 and over
Party Votes %
African National Congress 577 835 59.06%
Democratic Alliance 158 874 16.24%
Inkhata Freedom Party 133 790 13.67%
Minority Front 44 236 4.52%
African Christian Democratic Party 20 821 2.13%
Independent Democrats 12 558 1.28%
New National Party 8 182 0.84%
United Democratic Movement 7 696 0.79%
CDP 2 287 0.23%
Pan African Congress 2 018 0.21%
Freedom Front Plus 2 001 0.20%
SOPA 1 544 0.16%
Azanian People's Organisation 1 501 0.15%
United Christian Democratic Party 1 469 0.15%
NA 722 0.07%
UF 647 0.07%
KISS 511 0.05%
PJC 506 0.05%
TOP 504 0.05%
EMSA 460 0.05%
NLP 221 0.02%
Total 978 383 100.00%


[edit] References

[edit] External link


Flag of South Africa

Province of KwaZulu-Natal

KwaZulu-Natal Coat of Arms
Provincial Capital:

Pietermaritzburg

Major Metros:

eThekwini (includes Durban)

District Municipalities:

Ugu | Umgungundlovu | Uthukela | Umzinyathi | Amajuba | Zululand | Umkhanyakude | uThungulu | iLembe | Sisonke

Local Municipalities:

Amajuba Zululand Umkhanyakude uThungulu Umzinyathi Uthukela Umgungundlovu iLembe eThekwini Ugu Sisonke

Smaller Cities:

Empangeni | Kokstad | Ladysmith | Newcastle | Port Shepstone | Richards Bay | KwaDukuza | Tongaat | Vryheid