KwaDukuza/StangerDuring the last years of his life, Shaka built a new
capital
for his Zulu nation in the warmth of the north coast. He
named it kwaDukuza
('the place of the lost person'), because of the capital's
complex labyrinth of
huts. It was here, in a small kraal attached to the
capital, that Shaka was
assassinated by two of his half-brothers, Dingane and
Mhlangane, on 22 September
1828, and his body buried in a hole. The site, in a small
garden in the centre
of Stanger, is marked by a simple stone memorial erected
in his honour by the
Zulu nation.
Shaka's successor, Dingane, abandoned kwaDukuza and it
collapsed into ruins. In 1873 a European town was planned
on the site and named
after William Stanger, the surveyor-general of Natal. The
town is the
commercial, magisterial and communications centre for a
major sugar-producing
district. Jacarandas bloom in the streets in spring,
lending for a few weeks a
festive air to an otherwise ordinary town.
Mayhew, V. (ed) 1978. Illustrated Guide to Southern
Africa. Cape Town: Reader's Digest.For more information please visit
KZN Literary
Tourism
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