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in South Africa and a new municipal demarcation was undertaken. Currently, the Ulundi
Municipality's area ofjurisdiction has increased from 40 km 2 to 4086 km 2 , the largest part of
which is rural and underdeveloped.
Given the new mandate to ensure increased responsibilities over many previously
disadvantaged rural communities, this study seeks to determine the various landscape and
cultural attributes as land use existing in the Ulundi Local Municipality and establish their
developmental relevance to the community. The setting of the study in this chapter focuses
on the structure of the Zululand space economy, its economic development, physical
infrastructure and social services. This chapter further discusses the existing resources in the
Zululand District Municipality, its spatial development framework (SDF), poverty relief
infrastructure programmes, agricultural development and tourism development programmes
and other initiatives.
5.2 THE STRUCTURE OF THE ZULULAND SPACE ECONOMY
Understanding the functioning ofan economy depends on the nature ofsettlement distribution
and pattern of spatial features, their strengths and weaknesses as well as available
infrastructure facilities connecting the settlement to its major economic centres and nodes.
The Zululand space economy may be analysed in terms of four dimensions (lDP-Zululand
District Municipality, 2006):
• The settlement and land use pattern;
• Areas ofstrengths and weaknesses (relative welfare, need or opportunity);
• The distribution oftowns, service centres and other concentrations ofeconomic
activity; and
• Transport networks and flows.
The following sections analyse these aspects with emphasis on the trends and processes of
spatial change. A concluding section draws the findings together by summarising the main
strengths and weaknesses of Zululand's spatial structure. As this study examines the
strategies already taken by stakeholders to stimulate local economic development to counter
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