South Africa: IFP Wants Parts of Three Provinces Added to Kwazulu

The IFP says the Zulu Kingdom once stretched into the Eastern Cape, Gauteng and Mpumalanga and those areas were wrongly taken away.

The party says calling Pietermaritzburg "uMgungundlovu" is offensive and misleading because the original uMgungundlovu was destroyed long ago.

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has backed King Misuzulu kaZwelithini's call to change the name of KwaZulu-Natal to KwaZulu and to bring back land the party says was taken from the Zulu Kingdom.

Speaking in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature on Wednesday, IFP's Blessed Gwala said the king's proposal is not surprising or unreasonable.

He said the Zulu Kingdom under King Shaka once stretched from the uMtamvuna River in the Eastern Cape to Balfour in Gauteng and Ermelo in Mpumalanga.

"These areas were taken away when provincial borders were drawn. This proposal is about correcting that history," said Gwala.

He said the IFP feels vindicated because it has always supported the name KwaZulu. During the Convention for a Democratic South Africa (CODESA) in the 1990s, the party pushed for the name KwaZulu to be recognised because of its cultural and political importance.

Gwala said the name "KwaZulu-Natal" was a compromise and does not fully reflect the kingdom's history.

He also raised concern over the use of the name "uMgungundlovu" for Pietermaritzburg.

He said the original uMgungundlovu was King Dingane's royal palace near uLundi, which was destroyed. The Voortrekkers later used the same name for Pietermaritzburg, which Gwala says was meant to mock the Zulu people.

He said keeping the name uMgungundlovu for Pietermaritzburg is painful and gives a false impression that the Zulu people accept what happened.

The IFP said there is now a chance to correct these historical wrongs through the Constitution.

The party also said the name "Natal" comes from Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, who called the area "land of the Nativity" after seeing it on Christmas Day in 1497.

The IFP says the king's call should push the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture to review and correct local names that have lost their meaning, like uMbogintwini and Ixopo.

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