Greater Kokstad is a local municipality in KwaZulu-Natal, within the Harry Gwala District Municipality. It is one of the family of four (4) local municipalities (i.e. Ubuhlebezwe, Dr. Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and Umzimkhulu) of the Harry Gwala District Municipality. The Municipality is bordered by Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma Municipality, Umzimkhulu Municipality, uMuziwabantu Municipality, Umzimvubu Municipality and Matatiele Municipality to the north, east, southeast, south and west, respectively. The municipality is also bordered by the Lesotho hinterland to the north-west. Kokstad is derived from Dutch, and it means ‘town of Kok’. It was named after Adam Kok III. The municipality is traversed by the National N2 Route connecting Durban to East London and the KwaZulu Natal Province to the Eastern Cape Province, as well as the R56 and R626.
The Strategic location of Greater Kokstad Municipality along the N2 Development Corridor links the Municipal Area to the major economic nodes of Port Shepstone and Durban within the KwaZulu-Natal Province and Matatiele, Mbizana, Mount Ayliff, Mount Frere and Mthatha in the Eastern Cape Province. Therefore, Greater Kokstad has the advantage of strategically re-aligning the district into a competitive and attractive investment destination and has the potential to become a major logistics hub and Development of Information Technology hub (as identified as a Digital Economy at the #KZNSOPPA2020) player for the region.

The Greater Kokstad Municipality is a Category B municipality situated along the western border of the Harry Gwala District Municipality. The municipality covers an area of approximately 2 680 km².
The Municipality consists of 10 wards and has 1 main town centre which is the town of Kokstad. In terms of section 18(3) of the Local Government: Municipal Structures Act, 1998 (Act 117 of 1998), the MEC responsible for local government has determined that the municipal council consists of nineteen (19) councilors. Kokstad does not have Amakhosi within its jurisdiction. In 2016 the MEC appointed the recognised traditional leaders through Notice Number 149 of 2016 which was published on 16 August 2016. In Provincial Notice Number 45 of 2019, the MEC withdraws Notice Number 149 and draws a new list of traditional leaders. The MEC further identifies traditional leaders from various traditional communities who may participate in the proceedings of the various municipal councils under each district municipality. In the notice, no traditional leaders are recognised for Greater Kokstad Municipality and who are therefore allowed to participate in the proceedings of the council in terms of Section 81(1) of the Municipal Structures Act 117 of 1998.
The Municipal Demarcation Board has delimited the municipality into ten (10) wards in terms of Schedule 1 of the Act. An overview map of the boundary of the municipality, with the boundaries of the wards within the municipality, and a map of each ward are depicted in the map below.

The main economic sectors of the municipality include: - Agriculture (36%), trade (20%), community services (18%), finance (16%), transport (4%), manufacturing (3%), and electricity (2%).