Area Guide: Illovo

Illovo is a town in EThekwini in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa.

Popular coastal resort on the Natal South Coast, between Winklespruit and Karridene, 34 km south-west of Durban. It takes its name from the Lovu River. The adapted form Illovo has also been applied to a sugar estate and thence to the Illovo Sugar company.

We are focused on supporting existing institutions and organisations that are in the are, so we have partnered with Illovo Islamic Centre in supporting projects in the area.

According to legend, the name Umlazi comes from “umlaza”, the Zulu word for the sour acid produced from fermented or sour milk. It is believed that when King Shaka was passing through the area, he refused to drink from a local river claiming it had the taste of “umlaza”. The area was called Umlazi after this incident.

The proposed construction of an Automotive Supplier Park (ASP) in Illovo, KwaZulu-Natal and associated infrastructure and services. South Africa currently has three dedicated ASPs in the country which were conceptualised and implemented by the Automotive Industry Development Centre (AIDC) and other relevant international and local stakeholders. Two occur in the Eastern Cape and one in Gauteng. The aim of the ASPs is to accommodate component suppliers and service multiple Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) from a centralised location. The primary objective of establishing these ASPs was thus to stimulate investment in major specialised infrastructure and integrated logistics services to the automotive industry in close proximity to OEMs, with the ultimate aim of increasing local content, reducing manufacturing costs and increasing competitiveness amongst OEM suppliers.