uMshwathi

The municipality is named after the uMshwathi River which runs through the municipal area; uMshwathi meaning ‘little stream/river’.uMshwathi is composed of four major urban centres (New Hanover, Wartburg, Dalton, and Cool Air) as well as the rural residential settlements of Swayimane, Mpolweni, Thokozani and Ozwathini. Sugar Cane is the predominant agricultural pursuit, with some 250 farmers and two mills processing around two million tons of cane annually. Manufacturing activities are mainly related to agricultural processing activities, notably sugar and timber processing activities, and to a lesser extent, the processing and manufacturing of food.