Briefing Room

As transport month draws to an end, KwaDukuza Mayor Siduuduzo Gumede today, 22 October 2026, used the marine safety equipment to activate the summer holiday season, heading to the deep seas of Salt Rock Beach with two high powered jest ski’s that were being officially introduced to the municipal fleet family to strengthen sea rescue operations. This historic activation is a clear indication the municipality is ready for the upcoming summer holiday season where we expect thousand to flock into our five Blue Flag beach sites and in several other tourism offerings. The Mayor used this occasion to also hoist the Salt Rock Beach Blue Flag that was accorded by WESSA for the 2026/27 season along key partners within the marine safety value chain including KZN COGTA PDMC, KZN SAPS Search and Rescue teams and other partners. “I am very proud today! This is a demonstration of how KwaDukuza will look like in the future. We want a municipality that will form partnerships for the good of our communi...

KwaDukuza Municipality has obtained official approval to hoist the coveted Blue Flag in five of its bathing beach sites that comply with international standards, retaining its pole position as one in three leading municipalities in the province that have demonstrated sound adherence to international protocols and show effective stewardship.   The Blue Flag is a prestigious coastal tourism status which symbolises excellence in beach safety and accessibility, best practices, water quality, environmental education, and sustainability. For the 2026/27 season, the municipality obtained four Full Blue Flags out of 62 in the country for Salt Rock Main Beach, Willard Beach, Thompson Bay Beach and ClubMed-Tinley Manor. The Tinley Manor Main Beach was accorded a pilot status which means that the beach is on course towards fulfilling the minimum requirements for Blue Flag status in the future. The Wildlife & Environment Society of South Africa (WESSA) recognised top performing South Afri...

KwaDukuza Mayor, Cllr Sduduzo Gumede, has expressed his heartfelt appreciation of the Gledhow Compounds Upgrade Project which consists of a sewer reticulation line and six communal ablution facilities that were initiated by the municipal council to address long-standing sanitation challenges and for the overall improvement of living conditions of the local community. The compounds are a human settlement area in Ward 15 that was acquired by the municipal council through Ithala Bank which was a creditor of a company that was under liquidation. The property consisted of facilities that were in a state of deterioration, with ageing infrastructure, inadequate sanitation facilities, roof failures which worsened living conditions. Over the years, the municipality has been investing resources towards maintenance, repairs and constant upgrades which have amounted to over R3,2 million including roof replacements, stormwater control and refurbishment of multiple buildings. Today, 26 August 2026, ...

KwaDukuza Mayor Siduduzo Gumede today, led the discussions of the Energy Indaba billed to address the heavy costs of electricity while generating minimal revenue.   The Indaba took stock of key threats coupled with meaningful inputs from stakeholders based on proven best practices and measures.   The municipality’s bulk electricity purchases account for over half of its entire operating budget. Illegal connections, billing errors, under-estimates, faulty meters, transformer losses associated with the high cost of living, population growth, informal settlements, unemployment and subsequent poverty were some of the factors raised as key contributors to the stagnant electricity revenue generation and huge losses. Mayor Gumede was candid about the conditions of which the municipality is operating under. “Each and every year, our losses are in the millions and this is the single most pressing financial challenge plaguing our municipality. We are losing revenue that should be resurf...

  KwaDukuza Mayor Siduduzo Gumede used the Milestones of Freedom event to reflect on the historical moments of defiance by towering figures under apartheid, revisiting the indelible marks of the young Anton Lembede, which the nation observes the 79th anniversary after his passing. Gumede’s message coincides with governments commemoration of four milestones that have shaped the nation. “It was around this time in 1947 that Anton Lembede, the son of this very province passed on at only 33 years of age. In a life cut-short, Lembede gave the liberation movement its first fully-formed philosophy of African Nationalism, a conviction that shaped the young Nelson Mandela, Oliver Tambo, and Walter Sisulu, and that laid the intellectual foundation for the 1949 Programme of Action which would come to define a new, more militant chapter in our struggle for freedom.    Lembede did not live to see the fruits of the movement he helped build. But his legacy endures in every young South A...

KwaDukuza Mayor Siduduzo Gumede together with the Deputy Minister for Public Works & Infrastructure Sihle Zikalala today, 05 August 2026, received a detailed technical handover report of the new Home Affairs building that was stalled due to failures experienced by the contractor.  The deputy minister announced that the project is to be re-established by the Independent Development Trust (IDT) which is a Schedule 2 state-owned entity under the Department of Public Works & Infrastructure that is to implement the project on behalf of Home Affairs. The deputy ministers visit to the facility signals the commencement of work behind the scenes for IDT to undertake due diligence towards the appointment of a new contractor and a team of professionals following practical failures by the previous contractor as a result of cash flow challenges and poor contract management. KwaDukuza Mayor described the handover of the site to IDT as progress informed by strong intergovernmental corpora...

KwaDukuza Mayor Siduduzo Gumede today, 29 July 2026, signed the municipalitys integrity pledge , committing all councillors and the administration  to deliver with high ethical standards, zero-tolerance to corruption and maladministration. Mnguni signed the pledge a long the municipality's  independent oversight committee chairpersons, the Speaker of council, Whip of council and the Acting Municipal Manager during the full sitting of council. The Mayor characterised the historic event as a defining moment in the current office tenure. In a prepared speech,  Gumede  remarked, "I stand before this august house to what I consider as one of the defining moments of this term of office, which is the signing ceremony of the KwaDukuza Good Governance Pledge and I wish to thank the Speaker of Council for offering us this opportunity. This signing ceremony is binding declaration to our people as we understand exactly what is required of us as custodians of public tru...

I greet you all on this beautiful day as I deliver the  Section 52(d)  Fourth Quarter Budget and Performance Assessment Report as required by the MFMA. I table this report on a day that carries real weight in the history of the nation. It was in the last days of July 1947 that Anton Lembede died in Johannesburg at only 33 years of age. This week marks the 79th anniversary after his passing. Lembede gave his life under the conviction that Africans must be the architects of their own destinies in doing so, he shaped the generation of Mandela, Sisulu and Oliver Tambo who carried that conviction into the Programme of Action and, ultimately, into the democracy that we serve today. A young man's life's work, cut short so early, he could still be steering the direction for the people decades later.   We table the Fourth Quarter Assessment in that same spirit of discipline and accountability, the belief that the day-to-day work of governance, done honestly and consistently, is it...

KwaDukuza Mayor Siduduzo Gumede will on Friday, 24 July 2026, lead a massive anti-littering and illegal dumping clean-up campaign in the Groutville cluster, ahead of the Luthuli Walk and Fun Run to be held this Saturday. The clean-up is part of his rapid response to commitments he made at the launch of the 10th anniversary launch of the Luthuli Walk and Fun Run earlier this month, where he assured the Groutville community that the municipality will be working to develop the route between the Luthuli Museum and Luthuli Memorial site where Luthuli’s mortal remains were discovered. Operations have already been deployed to the area including route re-gravelling, tree felling and clean-up co-ordination ahead of the 11.5km Luthuli Fun Walk and 7.7km Fun Run that is to take place in Groutville on Saturday, 25 July 2026. Going forward, Gumede will also be engaging the council to appropriate a budget for the construction of a black-top road leading to the Luthuli memorial site. “As we comme...

KwaDukuza Mayor Siduduzo Gumede has indicated to the Deputy Minister for Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Ms Bernice Swarts that he will be using the upcoming Operation Sukuma Sakhe Cabinet visit to be hosted by KwaDukuza Municipality on 22 July 2026, as an opportunity to appeal for support in tackling environmental challenges, specifically illegal dumping. “The cabinet of KwaZulu-Natal will be descending to KwaDukuza in two weeks, one of the messages that I will be advancing and which is also on top of the list of my priorities is the war on illegal dumping that we are seeing spiralling out of control”. Gumede was addressing was addressing the Ministerial Electronic-Waste (E-Waste) Recycling Imbizo at Chris Hani Hall, which the deputy minister handed over 700 indigenous tress to local traditional communities within KwaDukuza. Gumede expanded, “The reality is that South Africa faces escalating climate risks; including rising sea levels threatening our coasts, extreme weather ...

KwaDukuza Mayor Siduduzo Gumede today, 03 July 2026, committed to commission the construction of a black-top access road leading to the Chief Albert Luthuli Memorial Site in honour of the enduring life and legacy of Chief Luthuli. “As we commemorate the 10 th  anniversary of the Chief Albert Luthuli Walk and Fun Run under the legacy of  the first African Nobel Peace Prize recipient, the municipality will be honouring Chief Luthuli for standing firm in the face of injustices, particularly in defence of the masses that toiled under apartheid. The is an important memorial site that deserves the necessary upgrades in honour of the  struggle of the freedom that we enjoy today.”   Gumede was addressing stakeholders at the memorial site  near the Umvoti River railway bridge  where Luthuli’s mortal remains  were discovered following his tragic death amid unresolved questions surrounding his murder in 1967. “58 years on,  the Pietermari...