I. S.OTHER THEORETICAL EXPLANATIONS OF CONFLICT IN MANDINI Three other basic theoretical positions account for the conflict and violence which
5. TROUBLE ACROSS THE TUGELA RIVER: THE MANDINI STORY
5.2. THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE TUGELA AREA
CHAPTER FIVE
comes from the "mundi" trees (Euphorbia tirucalli), which grew on the banks of the Mandini River. "Mandini" was also the praise name of the Chief Manzini who lived at the headwaters of the river. "Tugela" means the startling or frightening one because of the floods that swept down the river. "Sundumbili" means the place of the two palm trees (Usunde-phoenix reclinata, Mbili-two).
The earliest known inhabitants of the Mandini area were the "strandlopers" - a primitive fish- eating people who wandered South about 300 A.D. The next wave of inhabitants, pressing down from the North, was Lala peoplel3l. Some of these Lala tribes remained in Zululand to become famous blacksmiths and metal workers of the Zulu nation. The Lala people were in their tum pushed south by the Nguni tribes. Of the many Nguni people who came to settle in the hills of Zululand in the seventeenth century was a man called Malandela. As time passed, tribes of the Nguni settled the whole Zululand. Then at the beginning of the 19th century, all those tribes were welded by "despot" Shaka of the Zulu clan, into one great nation - the Zulus132.
According to Stubbings and Pepper (1977), the first Europeans in the Mandini area were a party of Portuguese with their shipwrecked slaves in 1554. In 1824, Henry Francis Fynn passed through on their way to visit Shaka. Fynn wanted to trade in ivory with the Zulus.
He obtained permission from Shaka and because of his knowledge of medicine, he then became a friend and advisor to the King. From then on, there was a constant stream of white people - traders, hunters, missionaries and soldiers passing to. In 1826, John Ross permanently settled in Mandini and the present main road bridge (John Ross) is named
131 Lala people were offshoots of the Kalanga tribe who built Zimbabwe in Rhodesia.
after him. Ndondakusuka (slow to move) is the name of the hill at the SQurce of the Mathambo stream, North of St Andrews. Ndondakusuka got its name from a kraal built by Dingane on the heights overlooking the old wagon drift opposite Fort Pearson. He gave it this name because of the difficulties he experienced in getting rid of the previous inhabitants, the Mathonsi people \33.
After the death of Dingane, his brother Mpande became the king. He had two ambitious sons, Cetshwayo and Mbuyazi, both of whom were contending for the title of heir to the throne. In 1856, the armies of Cetshwayo and Mbuyazi met on the banks of the flooded Tugela. Mbuyazi was defeated and together with thousands of his followers were slaughtered. This battle began at the source of the Mathambo (bones) and ended at the Tugela. The stream was called the Mathambo because of the large number of human bones that littered its course. John Dunn took part in this fight on the side ofMbuyazi.
John Dunn first came to the area as a transport rider and trader. Later he settled in Zululand to become famous as trader, hunter, Zulu chief, advisor to Mpande and Cetshwayo, and founder of the Dunn community, who still live at Moyeni and Mangethe.
Dunn got married to 50 wives in the Zulu fashion and had over a hundred children. He had a settlement at Mangethe and a pleasure resort at Mthunzini. John Dunn became a Zulu Chief in his own right, but as Cetshwayo's conflict with Natal government grew134,
so his power warned, and he retired to his home at Mangethe. After Cetshwayo was
133 There have been two battles of note in this area. After the murder of Retief and the slaughter at Weenen by the impis ofDingane in 1838, Robert Biggar led a commando across the drift against the King. He wanted to avenge the death of his brother at Blaauwkrans. The Zulus swooped down on Biggar's force and almost completely wiped it out. One of the few survivors was Dick King.
134 By 1873 Cetshwayo was crowned the King of the Zulus and his long struggle to keep his kingdom intact began. In the North the Boers were taking up more and more of his land, and in the South the British were
restored to his throne, Dunn was deposed and his former territory became part of a large Native Reserve under the British Commissioner. 135
In addition, when Tugela Mill (South African Paper Produce Industry - SAPPI) first started operating in Mandini in 1954, black workers were housed in a small compound and in houses for married men built nearby. At the time of their construction, these houses were quite revolutionary by the standard of those days. However, as time passed more married quarters were needed than SAPPI could possibly cater for. Sappi was the first major industry to operate in Mandini and it is crucial to the survival of the Mandini community. The Sundumbili Township then came into existence, it grew some distance away and the original Sappi married quarters were demolished. Sundumbili lies in the KwaZulu area and it was administered by the KwaZulu Government.
Mandini, which lies just across the Tugela River, is an industrial area second only in significance to EmpangenilRichards Bay region on the North Coast. In the pre-April 1994 period, Mandini, together with its adjoining township of Sundumbili, was considered as one of the 'hot spots' in the province, featuring regularly in the news, police and monitoring reports. Its industrial workforce (Isithebe) gave Cosatu, and thus the ANC, a significant support base. This had been a recipe for trouble, which has been ongoing. Mandini/Sundumbili suffered an upsurge in the politically related violence.
Although the April 1994 elections in South Africa seemed to signal an end to political violence, which had plagued the province for almost a decade, the victory of the IFP in flawed provincial elections did not lead to peace in Mandini.