Msinga municipal area is one of the 66 magisterial districts in KwaZulu-Natal province. It is located roughly in the centre of the province at 28/45 South latitude and 30/25 East Meridian (Figure 1). The territory of Msinga is almost rectangular, approximately 30 kilometres wide by 40 kilometres long. Its administrative centre is Tugela Ferry, where the following are to be found: the Department of Education; Department of Health; Department of Social Welfare;
Department of Agriculture; and the Police Station.
Table 6 Distances between Tugela Ferry and adjacent towns that are on tarred roads
TOWN DISTANCES FROM TUGELA FERRY
Pietermaritzburg 120 KM
Greytown 47 km
Muden 42 km
Weenen 40 km
Pomeroy 23 km
Dundee 75 km
Msinga is an integral part of the Umzinyathi District. That is to say, Umzinyathi district consists of three Circuit Management divisions, namely, Msinga – located in Tugela Ferry, Nquthu, comprising Dundee and Nquthu, and Umvoti, situated in Greytown. In addition, each circuit management covers four to five circuits. The term ‘circuit manager’ is used in this research context interchangeably with ‘ward manager’. The core challenge facing the Msinga Circuit Management, similar to the Nquthu and Mvoti Circuit Managements, pertains to underperformance in Grade 12 results as shown in Chapter One. In essence, there appears to be a complex web of factors underlying under-performance of public schools in the Msinga Circuit Management. For example, poverty, land dispossession, influx control, the migrant labour system, forced removals, overcrowding and so forth (Zakwe, 1995). The contextual challenges faced by rural people of Msinga include, but are not limited to, the high level of illiteracy, low aspiration levels, high rate of fertility, high dependency ratio, low average income or low per capita income, social unrest, and the high rate of unemployment. Msinga has recently (2013–2016) experienced an incidence of service delivery protests due to lack of adequate public schools, electricity, a potable water supply, sanitation, all weather roads and lack of public transport (Zakwe, 1995:5). As a consequence, the rural community of Msinga has devised survival strategies, which include migrant labour remittances, old age pensions,
welfare grants/payments, petty commodity production, and informal sector selling of vegetables from the irrigation scheme (Ibid. 1995: 11). On a positive note, the emergence of a taxi industry has improved the living conditions of many families in the Msinga Municipality.
Figure 1 Location of Msinga
The concept of a reserve marked a milestone in the history of the indigenous peasants. In the former British colony of Natal (now KwaZulu-Natal), reserves were initiated by Sir Theophilus Shepstone, the then Secretary for Native Affairs (1848–1875), who persuaded the colonial government to establish reserves, technically known as the ‘locations’, with a view to entrenching the tribal structures that are inherent in the institution of chieftaincy. He was determined to implement his ideals, in spite of criticism from other provinces, and also from the indigenous people.
The Msinga and Mpofana Locations were gazetted on 7th April 1849 (Laband et al., 1983). By 1864, the territorial boundaries had been properly defined, delimited and demarcated. The Buffalo River constitutes the eastern boundary, the Mooi River forms the western boundary, and the Tugela River dissects the entire reserve into two halves horizontally. The Msinga district was placed under the magisterial authority of Helpmekaar in 1910. In 1945, the Msinga Location was then gazetted as the district of Msinga under the administration of the Republic of South Africa’s Native Affairs until the emergence of the KwaZulu Homeland Consolidation Plan of 1975.
Msinga, as an integral component of the Tugela Basin, comprises two large drainage systems:
the Upper Tugela River and the Buffalo River drainage system, which extends to the Lower sub-catchment area.
The interior Tugela Valley forms the heartland of Msinga Municipality. It dissects the territory into two uneven ‘halves’. Major tributaries include the Mooi River, Sundays River, Sampofu, Ngubevu, Mhlakothi, Jolwayo, Mtshezi and Sibumba. However, these rivers are seasonal and, of course, are not useful for the regular supply of water. The perennial water from the Tugela River and the Buffalo River has proven to be very useful, although technological problems and the lack of skills to address them, impose constraints on providing an adequate supply of water in Msinga. Water tank trucks provided by Msinga Municipality have to be deployed on a regular basis. The severe drought in 1980–1983 had a devastating effect on peasant farmers in Msinga, as many cattle and goats died.
Figure 2 A history of settlement in the Tugela Basin
Msinga Municipality comprises six tribal groupings: the Bathembu, Mabaso, Mabomvu, Machunu, Majozi (Qamu), Zondi (Ngome). Each tribe is named after a chief under which it was ruled. That said, however, there appears to be some degree of confusion regarding the names of these tribal groupings due to the adaptation of the chief’s personal name to plural or other parts of speech. For example, Mthembu becomes Bathembu (plural form), and Bathenjini (adverb).
Msinga has a history of protracted faction fighting between tribes and boundary disputes.
Faction fighting in Msinga has been studied with reference to the different socio-spatial aspects of Msinga by Mare (1980); Clegg (1981); Schlemer (1983); Zingel (1985); Milton and Bond (1986); and Maphalala (1987). Apart from these studies, Msinga has often been in the headlines of different newspapers, not only as a news item, but also as a documentary. For instance, the Daily News of 14/05/1983 carried a heading ‘Msinga – Flash point in KwaZulu-Natal’. In addition, other documentaries were covered in the Natal Mercury 17/05/1972; Daily News 23/02/1985; and Rand Daily Mail 20/02/1980.
A classic example of catastrophic faction fighting was between the Machunu and the Bathembu on 30 September 1944 called the Ngongolo War. Each tribe fielded approximately 3 000 warriors. The clash lasted about twenty minutes and left 49 to 65 Bathembu warriors and 18 Chunu tribesmen dead. I have had personal experience of these notorious faction fights at Msinga, when I was doing my primary education at Mtateni public school. A battle broke out between the Engqongeni clan and the Ndlela clan and approximately 10–15 people lost their lives either in Johannesburg or locally. As a consequence. many of my contemporaries left school during that period of turbulence. Again when I was in secondary school education, still at Msinga High School (1972), a battle broke out between the Bathembu [my home tribe] and the Mabaso tribe. Msinga High is located in the disputed boundary area called Esijozini. We were fortunate to be evacuated by police in the morning. When I was teaching at Mawele High School, a catastrophic war broke out between the Mabamvu and the Majozi tribe. In that year, we had only 6 Matric girls as all the other learners left school. This social instability made a significant impact on the high rate of illiteracy at Msinga which, like all areas located in apartheir-created homelands, has been neglected throughout its history (Zakwe 1995:12).
Figure 3 Msinga tribal areas
Figure 4 Msinga homestead distribution
Figure 4 Land-use map of Bathembu tribe (1992)
It is worth noting that Msinga Circuit is part of the historical KwaZulu homeland, which was declared as a Bantustan. These areas, now formally disbanded, were sometimes called
‘independent states’ or ‘self-governing territories’ in terms of apartheid legislative framework.
Although this background informs my auto-ethnographic self-study inquiry, itis not the intention to comment upon the Bantustans individually. However, it can be mentioned that there appears to be a common denominator underpinning all Bantustans, namely, the legacy of colonial segregation or the colour bar, and apartheid discrimination in relation to social formations, agriculture, education, economy, and politics.