Data on the location of economic activity within the eThekwini municipality shows that much has changed since the end of apartheid — and that a lot remains the same too.
Even though the Durban central business district has lost much of its economic lustre, it remains an important employment node, albeit of mostly entry-level and low-paying jobs. What’s helped the CBD is the existence of the port and the location of provincial and municipal offices.
The analysis also confirms that some of the economic development decisions since 1994 have reinforced the apartheid spatial inequality that left African populations outside of economic development nodes.
The building of King Shaka International Airport in La Mercy, for example, has reinforced the focus on uMhlanga as the new node for economic and social development. The way the government structured the King Shaka project meant African populations in places like KwaMashu township were left outside the new development corridor that the airport has created.
Instead, the King Shaka project turned what had been relatively low-value sugarcane farmland into highly valuable properties that have since been developed into commercial, industrial and residential areas. The biggest beneficiaries have been companies such as Tongaat Hulett that owned land along the corridor.
An analysis of tax data for eThekwini by Takudzwa Mutize, a post-doctoral researcher at the University of the Free State, shows that KwaMashu still has very little private sector economic activity. The township continues to rely on the public sector — schools, clinics, community health centres and government service points — for “a disproportionately large share of formal employment”.
KwaMashu’s case, Mutize argues, underscores the state’s role as an employer of last resort in areas where market-driven job creation is weak.
Clearly, the decision to move the airport from the south of Durban to the north coast missed an opportunity to draw KwaMashu into a vibrant corridor of economic activity.
Mutize’s study, “The geography of employment, earnings and industry in eThekwini”, is part of the Cities Economic Outlook 2026, Cities in flux: Pathways of stress, adjustment and renewal research that falls under the Spatial Economic Activity Data South Africa project.
eThekwini matters for the economic health of KwaZulu-Natal’s economy, accounting for about 60% of the province’s GDP, according to data from the national department of co-operative governance & traditional affairs. KwaZulu-Natal is the second-largest contributor to national GDP (16%) after Gauteng (33%).
Trade & services account for 28% of eThekwini’s formal jobs, ahead of public & social services (25%) and manufacturing & logistics (22%).
Mutize found that even though the Durban CBD remains an important employment node, many of its formal jobs appear to be “entry-level or low-paid positions”; that is, jobs paying R6,400 a month or less.
That contrasts with nodes that have large-scale and specialised manufacturing (including Prospecton and Umkhomazi, south of Durban), which have industrial firms and logistics businesses. These businesses require skilled technical, engineering and supervisory roles.
Prospecton hosts Toyota’s manufacturing plant, and Umkhomazi is the site of Sappi’s Saiccor mill, the world’s largest producer of acid sulphide dissolving wood pulp. The Saiccor mill’s location on the banks of the uMkhomazi River was determined by its need for water and timber. Being an exporter and importer, Toyota must be close to a port.
Mutize’s findings confirm Durban’s history of development as a manufacturing hub since the early 1900s. The manufacturing sector expanded along transportation corridors into the interior and in pockets along the coastline. Even though some of these industrial pockets have thinned out, the pattern holds.
• Sikhakhane, a former spokesman for the finance minister, National Treasury and South African Reserve Bank, is editor of The Conversation Africa. He writes in his personal capacity.
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