Nkandla is a town

Town

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...

 in the uThungulu

UThungulu District Municipality

Uthungulu is one of the 11 district municipalities of KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa. The seat of uThungulu is Richards Bay. The majority of its 885 944 people speak Zulu...

 district of KwaZulu-Natal

KwaZulu-Natal

KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa. Prior to 1994, the territory now known as KwaZulu-Natal was made up of the province of Natal and the homeland of KwaZulu....

, South Africa

South Africa

The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. It is the seat of the Nkandla Local Municipality

Nkandla Local Municipality

Nkandla is an administrative area in the uThungulu District of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa.Nkandla is an Zulu name for a hiding place of the Zulus a long time ago during the times of war, e.g the Bambatha Rebellion and the Ndwandwe war from Entumeni. The warriors used the Nkandla forest as their...

.

The Nkandla region encompasses nearly 160,000 inhabitants, spread relatively sparsely over a large area. Poverty is prevalent, with over 90% unemployment. It has the highest rate of HIV

HIV

Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

 infections with statistics stating 1 in 4, but it is closer to 1 in 3. There are also many orphans due to the AIDS

AIDS

Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...

 epidemic killing many middle-aged parents.

A documentary "Orphans of Nkandla" by the BBC and Truevision recounted the hardships of orphans in the municipality.

It is the home town of the current President of South Africa, Jacob Zuma

Jacob Zuma

Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma is the President of South Africa, elected by parliament following his party's victory in the 2009 general election....

. Nkandla is mainly rural area and is on the top five of the poorest places in KZN. Zulu's dominate the region.