[3] The Municipality was created after the merger of previous Transitional Local Councils and Tribal Areas administered by the former Development Services Board.

New Hanover is the administrative hub; four major rural residential settlements in the UMshwathi district have fourteen wards.

[3] The Municipality covers 1 811 square kilometres and has an estimated population of 111 645 people as reported in the 2016 community survey.

The Municipality was established in 2001 by amalgamating the Transitional Local Council (TLC) that existed before that period.

In the election of 1 November 2021 the African National Congress (ANC) won a majority of sixteen seats on the council.