A little about eSayidi ( Port Shepstone )...

Port Shepstone is a small town on the south coast of KwaZulu-Natal known by the locals as "eSayidi".

In Port Shepstone, attractions include; Port Shepstone Museum, the annual Sardine Rush, two shopping centres & the beach.

Port Shepstone was settled by British, Boers & Norwegian settlers during colonisation.

By Port Shepstone is the suburb of Marburg where it's said Emperor Shaka met with Henry Francis Fynn in the early 1828.

Descendants of Norwegian settlers in KwaZulu-Natal include cricket all-rounder Lance Klusener & South Africa's most successful football coach Gordon Igesund.

Despite many groups living in Port Shepstone including those of east African, west African, southern African, Asian, Arab & American descent, it remains a Zulu-speaking town.

Famous names to come from this small town called Port Shepstone include:

• Naima Kay (Singer)

• Mondli Cele (Bafana Bafana player)

• Professor Langa (Musician)

• Shon G (Rapper)

• Daniel le Roux (Arsenal player)

• Ayanda Gcaba (Footballer)

• Fundi Zwane (Generations actress)

• Mkhuleko Hlengwa (Member of South African parliament)

Port Shepstone was once in the news after a proposed name change in 2012. If Port Shepstone were to change it's name, I propose the names Mbango (so the whole place along with Oslo Beach can just be called M'bango or "Greater Mbango"), UM'zim'khulwana (after the river that flows from the UM'zim'khulu River, also due to the fact that UMzimkhulu River has it's mouth in Port Shepstone) or Ndongeni (after the Zulu man who accompanied Dick King on horseback to Grahamstown from Natal; Ndongeni had a farm by Port Shepstone).

Port Shepstone is named after Theophilus Shepstone - known as "Som'tsewu" by indigenous people - a British administrator who was sent to Natal. Theophilus Shepstone was said to be fluent in Xhosa & Zulu. He is responsible for the standard eleven cows for lobola (dowry) among Zulu tribes.

KwaGamalakhe

History of the Mpofana by Mthoko M. Mpofana

I'm not very traditional, I'm more straightforward & basic & often disregard cultural nuances so this history of the Mpofana tribe is going to be as direct & concise as possible. Growing up, I grew up knowing that the clan praises or izithakazelo of the Mpofana are "Zulu" & "Ntombela", I never questioned that. What I know now for sure is that there's a lot more that's hidden in history. What I keep seeing being repeated from various sources is that the Mpofana were part of the Amazizi (or AmaTiti) tribe. I now know that in the midlands & perhaps further north, up to the northwestern parts of KZN, they use the greeting "MaZizi okuhlala", perhaps alluding to the fact that the Mpofana as well as other Amazizi tribes were among the original tribes to settle in present-day KZN from 200 AD onwards & the "Dlamini" praise or greeting was used among all Dlamini tribes i. e. the Amahlubi, Amazizi (Mtiti), Hlangwini...

Black, Red & Green...

The black, red & green flag or variations of it has been a symbol of black/African emancipation since the 1920s. The most popular version is the Marcus Garvey created "Pan-African flag" which has red on top, black centre & green at the bottom. These colours are used in official flags of a few African countries which are: Kenya, South Sudan & Malawi. I do not believe it's an ethnic flag as many ethnicities use it & could vary in symbolism for various lands but for me, it could be; black for the night sky or people of that land, red for the blood of that people's forefathers & green for the land of those people. It is also used as the flag of the Biafran independence movement. Kenya. South Sudan. Malawi. In South Africa; the horizontal colour scheme is also used by the IFP's student brigade called SADESMO. In the Arab world, it has been used by the Kingdom of Libya (1951) & vertical colour s...

The modern Zulu language.

I always wondered which of the many Zulu dialects modern Zulu is & always thought it was Hlubi (isiMbo) & according to this thesis by a Mr. Isaac Sibusiso Kubeka written in what was apparently 1979, we see modern Zulu is more the original Ntungwa dialect. The Mthethwa dialect (isiLala) that was likely spoken by King Shaka looks more a Tsonga dialect from a Zulu-speaker's perspective. Despite the "Zulu area" speaking many dialects, I'm of the belief that these dialects were mutually intelligible & similar for the most part. This is the only way these Nguni tribes from southern Mozambique up to Umzimvubu River & inland into the Drakensberg Mountains up to Gauteng could understand each other because I, genuinely, think that it was seldom that an African travelled to a land where he couldn't speak the local language in precolonial times. Mild differences between Zulu dialects. Writing Zulu I remember reading a book written in 1930 by ...

What's on Mthoko's mind?

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