KwaZulu-Natal is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu and Natal Province were merged. It is located in the southeast of the country, with a long shoreline on the Indian Ocean and sharing borders with three other provinces and the countries of Mozambique, Eswatini and Lesotho. Its capital is Pietermaritzburg, and its largest city is Durban. It is the second-most populous province in South Africa, with slightly fewer residents than Gauteng.
The Inkatha Freedom Party is a right-wing political party in South Africa. Although registered as a national party, it has had only minor electoral success outside its home province of KwaZulu-Natal. Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who served as chief minister of KwaZulu during the Apartheid period, founded the party in 1975 and led it until 2019. He was succeeded as party president in 2019 by Velenkosini Hlabisa.
Prince Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi was a South African politician and Zulu prince who served as the traditional prime minister to the Zulu royal family from 1954 until his death in 2023. He was appointed to this post by King Bhekuzulu, a son of King Solomon, who was a brother to Buthelezi's mother, Princess Magogo. Buthelezi was chief minister of the KwaZulu bantustan during apartheid and founded the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in 1975, leading it until 2019, becoming its president emeritus soon after that. He was a political leader during Nelson Mandela's incarceration (1964–1990) and continued to be so in the post-apartheid era, when he was appointed by Mandela as Minister of Home Affairs, serving from 1994 to 2004.
Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu was the King of the Zulu nation from 1968 to his death in 2021.
KwaZulu was a semi-independent bantustan in South Africa, intended by the apartheid government as a homeland for the Zulu people. The capital was moved from Nongoma to Ulundi in 1980.
1994 in South Africa saw the transition from South Africa's National Party government who had ruled the country since 1948 and had advocated the apartheid system for most of its history, to the African National Congress (ANC) who had been outlawed in South Africa since the 1950s for its opposition to apartheid. The ANC won a majority in the first multiracial election held under universal suffrage. Previously, only white people were allowed to vote. There were some incidents of violence in the Bantustans leading up to the elections as some leaders of the Bantusans opposed participation in the elections, while other citizens wanted to vote and become part of South Africa. There were also bombings aimed at both the African National Congress and the National Party and politically-motivated murders of leaders of the opposing ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
The Durban University of Technology (DUT) is a multi-campus university situated in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was formed in 2002 following the merger of Technikon Natal and ML Sultan Technikon and it was initially known as the Durban Institute of Technology. It has five campuses in Durban, and two in Pietermaritzburg. In 2022, approximately 31 991 students were enrolled to study at DUT. The university is one of five technical institutions on the African continent to offer Doctoral Degrees.
Umlazi is a township in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, located south-west of Durban. Organisationally and administratively it forms part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality and its South Municipal Planning Region.
Frank Themba Mdlalose was the first Premier of the newly renamed KwaZulu-Natal province in South Africa, after the African National Congress (ANC) won the country's first all-inclusive general election on 27 April 1994, while the Inkatha Freedom Party won a majority in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature.
Operation Marion was a domestic military operation fielded by the South African Defence Force (SADF) during the 1980s. The apartheid security forces trained Inkatha operatives to build an irregular militia.
iSithebe is a town in Ilembe District Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. The small town some 2 hours driving time north of Durban was established as a manufacturing industrial park in the early eighties. Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi can be credited as one of the drivers behind the establishment of this industrial park - this was at a time when parts of the KwaZulu Natal province of were governed by a separate, tribal regime owing to apartheid policies applicable at that time in the history of South Africa. In the eighties, Mr Buthelezi, had successfully attracted small and medium businesses to the industrial park, with extensive investments from Taiwan. The area, which also has paper mill, was known for low wages, but at its prime, many factories were functional and scores of people from the area were earning some income. Today November 2018, Isithebe industrial park is a ghost town. Many of the prime industrial sites are silent with rusted structures and gates. The population on the outskirts of the zone has multiplied over the decades. It is a very sad sight. There is speculation, as elsewhere in the globe, that with the dawn of democracy in South Africa in the early 1990s, imports flooded the markets or bluntly put, the Chinese came and squeezed out the Taiwanese, both in business and politically. A drive through iSithebe industrial park is a very sad reminder of what the beloved country of South Africa has become. The park, managed by Ithala Bank, has good infrastructure in terms of water, road, electricity, and desperate (cheap) labour. Links to the main roads and airport are good. ISithebe still presents a great opportunity to an entrepreneur or investor.
Baldwin Sipho "Ben" Ngubane was a politician from South Africa. He held multiple positions in the post-apartheid government of the country. In particular, he was Premier of KwaZulu-Natal from 1997 to 1999 and Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology from 1994 until 31 August 1996 and from February 1999 until April 2004.
Leona Valerie Theron is a judge on the Constitutional Court of South Africa and formerly of the Supreme Court of Appeal. She was first appointed to the bench in 1999, aged 33, becoming the first black woman judge on the KwaZulu-Natal High Court. She was appointed to the Constitutional Court on 1 July 2017 by President Jacob Zuma to replace recently retired Johann van der Westhuizen. Theron is married to Charles Sarjoo and has four children.
Zodwa Dlamini is a South African biochemist and Ex-deputy Vice Chancellor for Research at the Mangosuthu University of Technology. She researches molecular oncology. She is a former Vice President of the South African Medical Research Council and is a member of the Council for Scientific Advisers for the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology.
The M30 also named Griffiths Mxenge Highway is a metropolitan route in the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, South Africa linking the city of Durban with Umbumbulu, south-west of the city via Umlazi.
Lionel Percival Hercules Mbeki Mtshali was a South African politician who was Premier of KwaZulu-Natal from 1999 to 2004. He was known for unilaterally ordering the expansion of the province's antiretrovirals programme during the HIV/AIDS epidemic, in defiance of the policy of the national government under President Thabo Mbeki. A founding member and former chairperson of the Inkatha Freedom Party, Mtshali was also national Minister of Arts, Culture, Science and Technology in the government of President Nelson Mandela from 1996 to 1999.
Mzala Nxumalo, was a South African intellectual and anti-apartheid activist.
Prince Mcwayizeni Israel Zulu was a South African politician and senior prince of the Zulu royal family. A son of King Solomon kaDinizulu, he acted as Zulu regent during the interregnum of 1968 to 1971 and was a close advisor to King Goodwill Zwelithini. He is also known for having overtly aligned himself to the African National Congress (ANC) during the final years of apartheid.
Senzo Brian Mfayela is a South African businessman and former politician who represented the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the National Assembly from 1994 to 1999. He is the chief executive officer of Mangosuthu Buthelezi's Buthelezi Foundation.
