KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu and Natal Province were merged. It is located in the southeast of the country, enjoying a long shoreline beside the Indian Ocean and sharing borders with three other provinces and the countries of Mozambique, Eswatini and Lesotho. Its capital is Pietermaritzburg and its largest city is Durban. It is the second most populous province in South Africa, with slightly fewer residents than Gauteng.
A shark attack is an attack on a human by a shark. Every year, around 80 unprovoked attacks are reported worldwide. Despite their relative rarity, many people fear shark attacks after occasional serial attacks, such as the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916, and horror fiction and films such as the Jaws series. Out of more than 489 shark species, only three are responsible for a double-digit number of fatal, unprovoked attacks on humans: the great white, tiger, and bull. The oceanic whitetip has probably killed many more castaways, but these are not recorded in the statistics.
A shark net is a submerged net placed around beaches to reduce shark attacks on swimmers. The majority of Shark nets used are gillnets which is a wall of netting that hangs in the water and captures the targeted sharks by entanglement. The nets in Queensland, Australia, are typically 186m long, set at a depth of 6 m, have a mesh size of 500 mm and are designed to catch sharks longer than 2m in length. Shark nets are not to be confused with shark barriers.
Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife is a governmental organisation responsible for maintaining wildlife conservation areas and biodiversity in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa. Their headquarters is in Queen Elizabeth Park situated on the northern slopes of Pietermaritzburg, the KwaZulu-Natal provincial capital. Prior to 1994, it was known as the Natal Parks Board.
Mtunzini is a small coastal town that is situated almost exactly halfway along KwaZulu-Natal's coastline in South Africa approximately 140 km north of Durban. In 2011, the town's population was 2,199.
Inanda is a township in eastern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa that is situated 21 km North of the Durban CBD; it forms part of eThekwini, the Greater Durban Metropolitan Municipality. Populated primarily by Zulu-speaking Black Africans, Inanda Township is the home of John Langalibalele Dube, first president of the African National Congress (ANC), as a residence/base of operations of Mahatma Gandhi, and as birthplace of the syncretic Nazareth Baptist Church.
Umhlanga is an affluent residential, commercial and resort town north of Durban on the coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, created in 2000, which includes the greater Durban area. The name means "place of reeds" in the Zulu language, and the correct pronunciation of "hl" in Umhlanga is similar to the Welsh "ll". It is bordered by Durban North to the south and Mt Edgecombe to the west.
Zwelini Lawrence Mkhize is a South African doctor, legislator and politician who currently serves as Minister of Health and is the former Treasurer-General of the African National Congress, serving between 2012 and 2017
A drum line is an unmanned aquatic trap used to lure and capture large sharks using baited hooks. They are typically deployed near popular swimming beaches with the intention of reducing the number of sharks in the vicinity and therefore the probability of shark attack. Drum lines are often used in association with shark nets, with the intent of killing sharks. However SMART drum lines can be used to move sharks, which greatly reduces shark and bycatch mortality. The use of drum lines has been successful in reducing shark attacks in the areas where they are installed. The topic of shark culling became an international controversy and sparked public demonstrations and vocal opposition, particularly from environmentalists, animal welfare advocates and ocean activists.
Bhekokwakhe "Bheki" Hamilton Cele is the South African Minister of the Police. He was appointed to this post on the 26th February 2018. He was previously the National Commissioner of the South African Police Service until October 2011, when he was suspended from duty, due to allegations of corruption. He was appointed to this position in July 2009, replacing Jackie Selebi, who was suspended in January 2008 following charges of corruption. From 2004 to 2009 he held the post of Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Transport, Safety and Security in KwaZulu-Natal after holding various other portfolios in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government. He is a member of the African National Congress.
There have been a number of political assassinations in post-apartheid South Africa. In 2013 it was reported that there had been more than 12 450 political assassinations in the province of KwaZulu-Natal since the end of apartheid in 1994. In July 2013 the Daily Maverick reported that there had been "59 political murders in the last five years". In August 2016 it was reported that there had been at least twenty political assassinations in the run up to the local government elections on the 3rd of August that year, most of them in KwaZulu-Natal.
Black December refers to at least nine shark attacks on humans causing six deaths that occurred along the coast of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, from December 18, 1957 to April 5, 1958.
The Western Australian shark cull is the common term for a former state government policy of capturing and killing large sharks in the vicinity of swimming beaches by use of baited drum lines. The policy was implemented in 2014 to protect human swimmers from shark attack following the deaths of seven people on the Western Australian coastline in the years 2010 to 2013. National public demonstrations opposing the policy attracted international attention to the issue. In September 2014 the seasonal setting of drum lines was abandoned following a recommendation made by the Western Australian Environment Protection Authority. From December 2014 to March 2017, the special deployment of drum lines was permitted in cases where sharks were deemed to present a serious threat to public safety. This policy allowed the government of Western Australia to kill "high-hazard" sharks it found to be a threat to humans; the policy was criticized by senator Rachel Siewart for damaging the environment. In March 2017 the use of drum lines was abandoned by the newly elected West Australian state government. In August 2018 following continual shark attacks the West Australian state government reversed their position and announced a 12-month trial of "SMART" drumlines along Western Australia's South West coast, near Gracetown.
Graham Brian Douglas McIntosh is a South African farmer, businessman and retired politician. He was active in South African politics and served four terms in the National Parliament in Cape Town from 1974 to 2014.
There are a range of shark attack prevention techniques employed to reduce the risk of shark attack and keep people safe. They include removing sharks by various fishing methods, separating people and sharks, as well as observation, education and various technology-based solutions.
Hollywoodbets is a sports betting company based in South Africa. It is also known as Hollywood Sportsbook. It currently operates in South Africa, Mozambique, Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Shark culling is the deliberate killing of sharks by government authorities, usually in response to one or more shark attacks. The term "shark control" is often used by governments when referring to culls. Shark culling has been criticized by environmentalists, conservationists and animal welfare advocates — they say killing sharks harms the marine ecosystem and is unethical. Government officials often cite public safety as a reason for culling. The impact of culling is also minor compared to bycatch with 50 million sharks caught each year by the commercial fishing industry.
Zwakele Maxwell Mncwango is a South African politician. He is currently serving as a Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature. He previously served as the Leader of the Opposition in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature from 2018 to 2019. He is the Provincial Leader of the KwaZulu-Natal Democratic Alliance (DA), elected in 2015 and re-elected in 2018. Mncwango was the party's KwaZulu-Natal Premier candidate for the 2019 election.
Sihle Zikalala is a South African politician who is currently serving as the 8th Premier of KwaZulu-Natal and the Provincial Chairperson of the African National Congress (ANC). He has held various leadership positions in the ANC. He is also a Member of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature after having taken office on 26 November 2015. From 2016 to 2019, he served as the MEC for Economic Development, Tourism and Environmental Affairs in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Government.
During the 2019 Easter weekend, the coastal city of Durban, South Africa, experienced severe flooding, caused by torrential rain brought on by a steep upper air trough, which deepened into low pressure in the upper levels of the atmosphere, and impacted the city and its surrounding areas starting 18 April 2019. The floods has resulted in at least 70 deaths caused by collapsed buildings, mudslides and sinkholes. It is one of the deadliest disasters to hit the country in the 2010s decade.
