Umkhanyakude District Municipality

The uMkhanyakude District Municipality (UMasipala wesiFunda sase uMkhanyakude) is the northernmost of the 11 districts of the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Its seat is Mkuze. It is a very rural district, the largest town being Mtubatuba in the south, with Hluhluwe, Mkuze, Jozini, Kwangwanase and Ingwavuma further to the north. The majority of its 573,353 inhabitants spoke isiZulu as of 2001. The district code is DC27.

The municipality is named after the yellow-barked fever tree, literally meaning "seen from afar" in isiZulu. It contains many areas of outstanding natural beauty such as the St Lucia greater wetland park, Sodwana Bay and Kosi Bay. Game parks include Hluhluwe–iMfolozi, Ndumu and Tembe Elephant Park.

It is one of the two most deprived districts in South Africa according to the District Health Barometer, in terms of unemployment rates, access to piped water and electricity, female-headed households with high numbers of children and low education levels.

Neighbours
uMkhanyakude is surrounded by:
 * The republic of Mozambique to the north
 * The Indian Ocean to the east
 * uThungulu to the south (DC28)
 * Zululand to the west (DC26)
 * the kingdom of Eswatini to the north-west

Local municipalities
The district contains the following local municipalities:

Demographics
The following statistics are from the 2001 census.

Election results
Election results for Umkhanyakude in the South African general election, 2004.
 * Population 18 and over: 274 753 [47.92% of total population]
 * Total votes: 150 543 [26.26% of total population]
 * Voting % estimate: 54.79% votes as a % of population 18 and over