KwaZulu-Natal Represents Dignity, Belonging and Identity

“KwaZulu-Natal” is the correct and appropriate name for the province because it represents dignity, belonging and identity.

To place the name KwaZulu-Natal in historical context, the following needs to be appreciated:

• Its original inhabitants were the Khoisan.
• The region was called ‘Natal’ internationally on navigation charts for centuries after Vasco Da Gama named it in 1497.
• Probably much earlier than 1497, when Vasco da Gama first observed them, the Nguni people migrated southwards from central Africa as a result of internecine warfare and to avoid enslavement. They were the first of the migratory settlers.
• The Zulu nation was established only by 1818 when Shaka had succeeded in colonizing and incorporating the Mthethwa and Ndwandwe tribes, to which the fledgling Zulu had previously been subordinate.
• Other groups of migratory settlers in the province included those mostly from England who began arriving in the late 1840s and passenger Indians after 1875, who joined the first Indian immigrants who had elected to settle here on completion of their indenture contracts.

Therefore, the claims made by Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelith that there is “historical justice” in removing the name ‘Natal’ from the title of the province and that the Zulu constitute the “soul of the province,” raise many valid objections.

In the first place, those claims ignore the preamble of the constitution which calls for “respect for those who have worked to build and develop our country.” Just 200 years ago, at the height of Shaka’s reign, the Zulu had no means of written recording or wheeled transport to say nothing about engineering, mathematics or Christianity. Those benefits and countless others were brought by Europeans.

Nobody disputes the late King Zwelithini’s feeling that the name Zulu carries “the weight of dignity and belonging.” But what needs to be appreciated is that there are minority groups in KwaZulu-Natal who also belong here and whose achievements have dignified the province. It is their right to be called Natalians because, as minorities, they are not Zulus.

In that this idea of name-changing is to promote decolonization, political analyst Zakhele Ndlovu (Post, February 4-9) asks very relevant questions: where does this process end? Or is it just selective? Just removing a few names, but keeping every other benefit that was derived from colonization? What about democracy? Shaka’s Zulus never held elections.

What about the most fundamental legacy of colonialism, the English language? It is the lingua franca of the world.  From those questions alone, it is simply impossible to eradicate the legacies of colonization and therefore downright stupid to waste time and public funds even thinking about such an exercise, never mind consulting about it.

The enterprise and initiative non-Zulu Natalians have brought to this province is monumental. Besides needing a basic history lesson, those publicly elected politicians advocating a name change must get their heads out of the sand.