Ladysmith, officially renamed uMnambithi in March 2024, is a town in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, serving as the seat of the Alfred Duma Local Municipality and the Uthukela District Municipality, about 230 kilometers northwest of Durban. It was established in 1850 and named after Juana Maria de los Dolores de Leon Smith, the Spanish wife of Cape Colony governor Sir Harry Smith. The 2011 census recorded 64,855 residents, and important local industries include food processing, textiles and tyre production. The town gained international prominence during the Second Boer War, when the siege of Ladysmith lasted 118 days from November 1899 to February 1900, a siege at which both Winston Churchill and Mahatma Gandhi were present.
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