By Celani Sikhakhane
The premier of KwaZulu-Natal wants the Zulu nation to remember that British, Afrikaner and Portuguese rulers expropriated the land while undermining the recognition of King Dinuzulu kaCetshwayo.
On Tuesday afternoon at the Old Pietermaritzburg Prison, Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube commemorated the 110th anniversary of the death of the king.
The prison has since been converted into a museum to honour the political prisoners who were held there.
In 1890, King Dinuzulu was captured by the British and exiled to the island of Saint Helena for seven years for leading a Zulu army against the British.
He returned to Zululand in 1897 but in 1906 the so-called Bambatha rebellion broke out and he was accused of giving orders to start the rebellion and was put on trial for treason.
King Dinuzulu protested his innocence but was found guilty and sentenced to four years imprisonment in March 1908.
Dube-Ncube said that the pain felt by King Dinuzulu, a nephew of King Shaka, was unbearable.
“The Portuguese, British and Afrikaners decided to expropriate our land and turned our kings into foreigners in their own land of birth. We need the current generation to understand this history,” she said.
“King Dinuzulu had to die in Mpumalanga after he was released from this prison,” she said, announcing plans to visit the graves of the royal family at the farm where King Dinuzulu spent his last days.
After his release from Old Pietermaritzburg Prison, King Dinuzulu was transported to the Uitkyk farm in what is now Mpumalanga where he died in 1913.
King Misuzulu kaZwelithini will make an official announcement soon on plans to celebrate the life of King Dinuzulu and the ANC is planning a string of celebrations in his honour.
Pictured above: KZN Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube commemorated the 110th anniversary of the death of King Dinuzulu at the Old Pietermaritzburg Prison.
Image source: Supplied
