Richards Bay

Richards Bay (Afrikaans: Richardsbaai) is a city in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is situated on a 30 square kilometre lagoon of the Mhlatuze River, which makes it one of the country’s largest harbours.[3] Richards Bay also has the deepest natural harbour on the African continent.

History

The town began as a makeshift harbour that was set up by Commodore of the Cape, Sir Markus Eugene Brown, during the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. In 1902, Cathcart Methven, the harbour engineer for the Natal Government, in his Zululand Port Survey recognized the potential of Richards Bay as a new harbour for the eastern shore.[4]

In 1935 the Richards Bay Game Sanctuary was created to protect the ecology around the lagoon and by 1943 it expanded into Richards Bay Park. The town was laid out on the shores of the lagoon in 1954 and proclaimed a town in 1969.[5]: 299 

In 1965, the South African Government under Minister of Transport Ben Schoeman decided to build a deep water harbour at Richards Bay.[6]Construction work began in 1972 and lasted four years. In January 1976, there was a forced removal of local inhabitants of the Mthiyane Zulu clan.[7] On 1 April 1976, the new deep water harbour was opened with a railway and an oil/gaspipeline linking the port to Johannesburg.[8] The new residential area for Richards Bay was developed north of the harbour. Meerensee, started in 1970, was the first suburb.[9] It was followed by Arboretum in 1975, and Veldenvlei in 1980.

All three suburbs catered exclusively for whites by the existing laws of Apartheid. A township for blacks was developed at Esikhaweni, fifteen kilometres south of Richards Bay. Residential areas for Indians and coloureds (Brackenham and Aquadene) were opened after 1985 west of Veldenvlei. The three suburbs of Richards Bay (excluding the black township of Esikhaweni) had a combined population of about 20,000 in 1990.

Economy

The Port of Richards Bay contains what was once the largest coal export facility in the world, with a planned capacity of 91 million tons per year by the first half of 2009. In 2007 annual throughput was 66.12 million tons. The Australian port of Newcastle, New South Wales is the largest coal-exporting harbour in the world, exporting just over 161 million tonnes of coal in 2016.[10]

Two aluminium smelters, Hillside Aluminum and Bayside Aluminium are operated by South32. A fertiliser plant operated by Foskor has been erected at the harbour. Iron ore, rutile (titanium oxide) and zircon are mined from the dunes close to the lagoon by Richards Bay Minerals, part of the Rio Tinto Group. Local exports include coal, en bananas, aluminium, titanium and other heavy minerals, granite, ferrochrome, paper pulp, wood chips and phosphoric acid. Richards Bay is, alongside Rustenburg, South Africa’s fastest-developing city. It is a fast-growing industrial centre that has been able to maintain its ecological diversity. [citation needed]

However, like most of South Africa, the Richards Bay area is plagued by unemployment and poverty. Unemployment has been estimated at forty per cent and an undefined number of people live below the poverty line. The local government have not made enough efforts to implement projects aimed at poverty reduction.

The “John Ross Parkway” (P496) which links Richards Bay to Empangeni and the N2 highway is named after “John Ross” (real name, Charles Rawden Maclean), who at the age of 15 walked from Port Natal to Maputo and back to procure medicine and supplies for the early settlers.[11]

Apart from the mining industry, tourism is a major part of the economy, with Richards Bay seen as a gateway to Zululand, an area popular with foreign tourists because of its large game parks and the diverse wildlife on offer.

The Richards Bay Industrial Development Zone is one of two Industrial Development Zones within the province of KwaZulu-Natal. It is a fully serviced industrial land comprising heavy, medium and light industries linked to the adjacent Port of Richards Bay.

Government and politics

Since municipal boundaries were newly demarcated in 2000, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), in a coalition with the Democratic Alliance (DA) and other smaller parties, were in power in the uMhlatuze Municipality. However, due to the final floor crossing period and the formation of the National Freedom Party, the IFP lost control of the Municipality to the ruling African National Congress (ANC). The mayor of uMhlathuze was Mr Mduduzi Mhlongo, who so happened to be the Chairperson of the African National Congress in the region. After the 2021 election, the Inkatha Freedom Party regained its power through a coalition with the Democratic Alliance (DA) with Xolani Ngwezi becoming the new Mayor. uMhlatuze Municipality is under the King Cetshwayo District Municipality, which is also led by the Inkatha Freedom Party, where Thamisanqa Ntuli is the current mayor.[12]

Demographics

White people account for 39.98 per cent of the population, followed by black Africans at 37.05 per cent, Asians or Indians at 19.16 per cent and coloureds at 3.8 per cent. 74.19 per cent of the population is under the age of 34 years, with 2.73 per cent over the age of 65. For every 100 females, there are 93 males. The population density has been estimated to be 526–1,192 persons/km squared. There are 12,433 households in Richards Bay, with 66.4 per cent of such households being house or brick structures. According to household income, the wealthiest suburb is Meerensee, with an average household income of more than R153,601 per annum. The unemployment rate in Richards Bay alone is 19 per cent, compared with 55 per cent in surrounding rural areas.

The various racial makeups of the seven different suburbs are still along the Apartheid-era segregation lines, with Meerensee a mostly white area, while suburbs such as Brackenham and Aquadene are predominantly Indian/Asian and Ngwelezane home to the black community. However, in recent years there has been a movement towards more integration, with predominantly black people moving into other, traditionally higher-income areas, due to the growing black middle-class in the area.

22 per cent of the population have completed school only. A further 8.45 per cent have a tertiary education. 16.7 per cent have received no schooling at all. However, this data reflects the uMhlathuze municipality as a whole.

Crime

The area experiences high levels of crime with a number of high-profile murders, including that of a ward councillor in 2024. Many crimes are related to procurement and supply chain issues.[13]

Geography and climate

Richards Bay is characterised by a humid subtropical climate that very closely borders a tropical savanna climate as only two months have an average temperature of below 18 °C There are warm wet summers and mild moist to dry frost-free winters. The town has an average annual rainfall of 1228 millimetres (48.3 in). The average annual temperature is 21.5 °C (71 °F), with daytime maxima peaking from January to March at 29 °C (84 °F), and the minimum is 21 °C (70 °F), dropping to daytime highs from June to August of 23 °C (73 °F) and a minimum of 12 °C (53 °F). Sunrise is at 4:45 AM and sunset at 7:00 PM in summer. In winter sunrise is at 6:20 AM and sunset at 5:00 PM. Richards Bay is a popular kitesurfing destination thanks to consistent winds blowing from the North East.

The Richards Bay area is generally very flat and is situated on a coastal plain. The terrain rises slightly towards the west. The suburbs are all no more than a few metres (around 140m, or 459.3 ft) above sea level. The area is abundant in coastal dune forests, most notably along the coastal dune belt and in the suburb of Meerensee.

Notes and references

  1. Ntuli, Sihle Herbert (1998). The history of the Mthiyane people who were removed from Richards Bay to Ntambanana Wednesday day [sic Tuesday] 6 January 1976 (Thesis). Dissertation. University of Zululand.normal
  2. ^ a b c d “Main Place Richards Bay”. Census 2011.normal
  3. “Port of Richards Bay”.normal
  4. Cubbin, Tony (1997). The History of Richards Bay 1897-1970s. Empangeni, South Africa: Empangeni Printers. p. 21.normal
  5. Joyce, Peter (1989). The South African family encyclopaedia. Internet Archive. Cape Town : Struik Publishers. ISBN 978-0-86977-887-6.normal
  6. Aniruth, Jayanthi; Barnes, Justin (1998). “Why Richards Bay grew as an industrial centre: Lessons for SDIs”. Development Southern Africa. 15 (5): 829–849. doi:10.1080/03768359808440052.normal
  7. Ntul, Hebert Sihle (2020). “Memories of victims : the historical trajectory of the removal of people from Mandlanzini, South Africa”. Southern Journal for Contemporary History. 44 (2). doi:10.18820/24150509/SJCH44.v2.4. Archived from the original on 6 November 2020.normal
  8. “Port of Richards Bay”.normal
  9. Potgieter, D. J. (1973). Standard Encyclopedia of Southern Africa. Internet Archive. p. 343.normal
  10. “The Channel Autumn 2017” (PDF). Port of Newcastle Operations Pty Limited. April 2017. p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 April 2017. Retrieved 27 April 2017.normal
  11. “John Ross Highway Phase 3 (N2 – Empangeni, KZN)”. Acer Africa. 1 July 2009. Retrieved 20 June 2010.normal
  12. “King Cetshwayo District Municipality – South African Government”. www.gov.za. Retrieved 29 September 2023.normal
  13. Ardé, Greg (3 March 2024). “Violent mafias hold Richards Bay industry to ransom”. Daily Maverick. Retrieved 5 March 2024.normal
  14. “Climate data: Richards Bay”. South African Weather Service. July 2009. Archived from the original on 4 July 2009.normal