Map - Abaqulusi Local Municipality (Abaqulusi)

AbaQulusi Local Municipality is a local municipality in Zululand in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. It is named after the AbaQulusi, a Zulu clan whose descendants live in the vicinities of Vryheid, Utrecht, eDumbe and Ngotshe. They hailed from different origins but were unified by their allegiance to local Zulu royal homesteads. Historically they were not drafted into ordinary "amabutho" regiments but rather into a royal section, and no "umnumzane" chief presented them in the Zulu king's council.

63% of the population of the AbaQulusi municipal area live in rural areas, most of which live in scattered homesteads known as imizi in tribal areas. Homesteads are of a mixed nature, including both modern dwellings and traditional thatched huts. The remainder of the population lives as tenants on farm or in towns, dormitory townships and shacks in the settlements around towns.

Vryheid is Zululand's main commercial, industrial and business centre, with a reasonably well-developed physical, social and institutional infrastructure. It is located at the intersection of the major transport routes (R34 and R69) that traverse the region.

Other towns and settlements within the municipal boundaries include: Alpha, Calvert, Emondlo, Esigodini, Gluckstadt, Hlobane, Kandaspunt, Lenjanedrif, Louwsburg, Ngobeni, Ngome, Scheepersnek, Steilrand, Stilwater, Swart Umfolozi, Thakazele, and Zungwini.

The main nodal points of the AbaQulusi Municipal area are:

* Vryheid with its central business district and surrounding residential area, together with its former black township Bhekuzulu;

* Louwsburg, an independent settlement area some 67 km northeast of Vryheid and at the entrance to the Ithala Game Reserve;

* Hlobane and Coronation, which have become ghost towns due to decline of the coal mining, and other similar settlements located 25 km to the east of Vryheid;

* eMondlo and the surrounding Tribal Area of Hlahlindlela southwest of Vryheid;

* Khambi Tribal Area and surrounding settlements in the southeastern part of the Municipal area;