iSithebe is a small town in the KwaZulu-Natal Province of South Africa, situated approximately 9 km north of Mandeni and 106 km north-east of Durban.
The town of iSithebe falls within the Mandeni Local Municipality, which is part of the iLembe District Municipality.
The town was established as a manufacturing industrial park in the early 1980s, all thanks to Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s efforts. This was at a time when parts of the KwaZulu-Natal Province were governed by a separate, tribal regime owing to apartheid policies applicable at that time in the history of South Africa.
In the 1980s, Prince Buthelezi successfully attracted small and medium businesses to the industrial park, with extensive investments from Taiwan. The area, which also has a paper mill, was known for low wages, but at its prime, many factories were functional, and scores of people from the area were earning some income.
Sadly, by November 2018, the iSithebe Industrial Park was a ghost town with several of the prime industrial sites silent with rusted structures and gates. The population on the outskirts of the park has multiplied over the decades. It is a very sad sight.
There is speculation, as elsewhere in the globe, that with the dawn of democracy in South Africa in the early 1990s, imports flooded the markets, or bluntly put, the Chinese came and squeezed out the Taiwanese, both in business and politically. A drive through the iSithebe industrial park is a very sad reminder of what the beloved country of South Africa has become. The park, managed by Ithala Bank, has good infrastructure in terms of water, road, electricity, and desperate (cheap) labour. Links to the main roads and the airport are good. iSithebe still presents a great opportunity to an entrepreneur or investor.
