KwaDukuza
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KwaDukuza
Stanger | |
|---|---|
Town | |
| Country |  South Africa |
| Province | KwaZulu-Natal |
| District | iLembe |
| Local municipality | KwaDukuza |
| Established | 1825 as Dakuza, 1873 as Stanger [1] |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (South Africa Standard Time) |
| Postal code | 4449 (street), 4450 (PO box) |
KwaDukuza or its former name Stanger is a town in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The town was renamed to its Zulu name in 2006, before that it was officially known as Stanger. It is a historic capital of the Zulus and is famous for being the place of Shaka's assassination.[2]
History
It was founded around 1820 by King Shaka as KwaDukuza (Template:Lang-zu) because of the capital's complex labyrinth of huts. After Shaka's assassination in a coup by two of his half-brothers, Dingane and Umthlangana (Mhlangane), on 24 September 1828, the town was burnt to the ground. In 1873, European settlers built a town on the site, and named it Stanger after William Stanger, the Surveyor-General of Natal.
Today, a small museum adjoins the site of King Shaka's grave, a grain pit, in the town centre. The otherwise simple town is surrounded by sugar cane fields, and the mahogany tree where King Shaka held meetings still stands in front of the municipal offices. The Shaka Day festival, a colourful ceremony of 10,000 or more Zulus, is held at the KwaDukuza Recreation Grounds on 24 September each year.
KwaDukuza is a cane growing centre and a bustling town. The Stanger North Coast Museum houses a great variety of historical items and information on King Shaka, the sugar industry and local history.
Stanger became a municipality in 1949 and is the commercial, magisterial and railway centre for one of the more important sugar producing districts.
The modern day town area of KwaDukuza has a distinct eastern flavour due the import of Indian labourers during the late 19th century to early 20th century to work under the name of sugar cane barons like Sir Liege Hulett. India sponsored indentured labourers to South Africa as the Zulus were not inclined to farm labour. The first few hundreds of Indian families departed northwards from Port Natal to the cane farms that applied for them, on 17 November 1860. The idea of importing Indian labourers was abandoned in 1911 after their numbers exceeded one hundred thousand. Most Indians did not return to India after their work contracts expired, and exchanged their return trip passes for currency or property. The expansion of the Indian community brought about a change in the economical and cultural attributes of KwaDukuza.
Name
In 2006, the Minister of Arts and Culture officially approved the change of name of the town of Stanger to KwaDukuza, with the name change published in the Government Gazette on 3 March 2006.
In the Zulu name, the 'Kwa' at the start of KwaDuzuka is pronounced as the English "gwa".
Education
- Stanger Secondary School
- Stanger Manor Secondary School
- M L Sultan Secondary School
- Glenhills Secondary School
- Glenhills Primary School
- Stanger High School
- Stanger Primary School
- Stanger Manor Primary School
- Dawnview Primary School
- Stanger Heights Primary School
- Circle Pre-primary School
- Lloyd Primary School
- Nkukwini Primary School
- Chief Albert Luthuli Secondary
- Dr B. W. Vilakazi Primary School
- Nonhlevu Secondary School
- Groutville High
- North Coast Primary School
- Mavivane Primary School
- Ashram Primary School
- kwadukuza Primary
- Kersney Primary School
- Tshelenkosi Secondary School
- Stanger South Secondary School
Notable people from KwaDukuza
References
- ^ "KwaDUKUZA / STANGER - A History". sahistory.org. Retrieved 2009-08-31.
- ^ Bryant, Alfred T. "Founding of the kwa'Dukuza kraal". A Zulu-English dictionary with notes on pronunciation, a revised orthography and derivations and cognate words from many languages; including also a vocabulary of Hlonipa words, tribal-names, etc. Pinetown, Natal: The Mariannhill Mission Press. pp. 60* (n63). Retrieved 2009-08-31.