Why Misuzulu Is Right on Renaming KwaZulu-Natal

HERITAGE: Despite sharp criticism of the Zulu monarch’s leadership, his push to rename KwaZulu-Natal has struck a chord—reopening deep questions about identity, history, and the unfinished business of decolonisation…

By Sekola Sello

I do not always agree with the amaZulu monarch His Majesty King Misuzulu ka Zwelithini.

There are several reasons for this. Since he ascended to the throne four years ago he has not, in my view, conducted himself in a manner befitting such an exalted position.

Soon after being installed as king he had several running battles with the then so-called traditional prime minister of the Zulu nation, the late Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

The fights became so intense and frequent that Buthelezi was forced to abandon royal protocols and make these differences public. He accused King Misuzulu of using the most foul  language against him, banging his fists against the table when they did not agree on certain  matters  and walking out on him while discussing serious royal issues.

There have been persistent allegations made by his rivals for the royal throne and must therefore be taken with a pinch of salt.

What has been of concern to me is that none of these claims have ever been denied by the royal spokespersons. If memory serves me right, even Buthelezi himself once suggested the King needed to seek medical help for this.

It is an accumulation of all these factors which have made it difficult for me to agree with King Misuzulu on anything. I think he is not fit for purpose.

But, when he declared a few weeks ago that he was going to campaign to have the coastal province named KwaZulu and not KwaZulu-Natal, I had to shout: Bayede!  This is an African country and her place names must reflect this reality.

It riles me no end that the judicial capital of this country is still called by a name I find galling to mention. I find it repulsive even to write its name. This place is named after one of the most obnoxious, depraved pieces of something that can never be called a human being. He was a rapist, a murderer, a thief with roots from Germany. He led a gang of brigands who raped and pillaged my people the Basotho.

I remember when anti-apartheid struggle hero Mosiuoa Lekota, who was buried in this place on February 14, wanted to rename it before the then President Nelson Mandela descended on him like a ton of bricks. Lekota was then premier of the province. Mandela’s attitude was the appeasement of whites truly gone mad. Or to borrow from Advocate Muzi Sikhakhane, this was another example of the late statesman’s obsession with being a saint.

While I find names such as Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, Western Cape and North West ridiculous, and also needing an overhaul, the name Free State is as offensive as it is obscene. The trek boers from the Cape colony found peaceful Basotho, murdered them and took their lands.

Others were forced to flee into present-day Lesotho. After depopulating the place of black people, save for those who remained but were reduced to serfdom, and then they named the place the Oranje Vrystaat. The English version being Orange Free State.

Who were they free of? They were free of Basotho. They were supposedly free from the English although – in reality – it was the British who armed the Boers to be able to defeat Basotho. Come 1994, the African National Congress then gives the place a supposedly new name, the Free State. A truly Orwellian display of duplicity.

While other provinces have made strides in changing colonial names, I think the Free State is lagging far behind. There’s another place in this country called Southey. Can a name be more insensitive than this?  A Richard Southey is the bastard that killed King Hintsa and then decapitated him. The king’s head is still somewhere in a museum in England. Southey is named after him or his ilk.

King Hintsa was killed and mutilated at the instigation of Harry Smith. Today we still have a place called Harrismith in the Free State honouring this evil man. In KwaZulu Natal, we have a place called Ladysmith in honour of his wife.

Back to King Misuzulu. I hope your Majesty your intentions are pure. I hope this is not the first salvo fired by those who want the province to secede from the rest of our country. The name South Africa must also change.

Whether we call it Azania, Maluti which I believe is what ANC leader Oliver Tambo preferred according to party stalwart Mac Maharaj or Malundi which was once suggested by Buthelezi is up to our people to decide. The latter is a combination of Maluti and Ulundi.

The people of KwaZulu must decide what the appropriate name for the province is.

KwaZulu includes areas which once belonged to important nations such as Amahlubi, AmaNgwane and AmaZizi. There are also oTembe in the north east of the province.

Yes, Natal must go. But the views of other groupings or nations must be solicited before a new name is decided upon.

*     The writer, Sekola Sello, is a veteran journalist and former editor