Mavundla says KZN should be an independent state

• Published date: 21 April 2024
• Author: Bongani Hans
• Publication title: Sunday Tribune

The former deputy mayor of eThekwini and current mayor of Umvoti Municipality in Greytown believes the province would be better governed under the Zulu monarch and the economy would flourish because of the Durban and Richards Bay ports

“We want the land of KwaZulu out of South Africa and we are very clear on that because being part of South Africa is not working for Zulus,” he said.

Mavundla said turning the province into an independent state was practical as other ethnic groups have their own states such as Botswana, Lesotho and eSwatini.

“Why can’t it be practical if the Zulu nation has 580km of coastline?,” he said.

He believed that the (native kingdom) were the rightful owners of their land and that they should be in charge of it.

“They (monarchs) were left out of the Codesa (Convention for a Democratic South Africa) negotiations and we have always said Free State does not belong to South Africa, but it belongs to Moshoeshoe (the first king of Lesotho who died in 1870),” he said.

He said the province would benefit from being independent through trading in its mineral resources and charging South Africa for using the Port of Durban and Richards Bay for importing and exporting purposes.

Mavundla said selling water from the Tugela River to Gauteng would also boost the Zululand economy, as Lesotho benefited financially by selling the same natural resource to Gauteng.

He said two pipelines transporting fuel from the Durban Harbour to Gauteng were another sign that KwaZulu-Natal has economic strength.

“Without Durban and Richards Bay harbours, Gauteng would not function.

Therefore the economic hub is in fact in KwaZulu but things have been done the other way around,” he said.

Mavundla was concerned that under the South African government, 72% of the land was owned by 8.4% of the white population.

“The colonisers unjustly took the land from the natives and we are determined to fight for the return of Zulu land to our king and the restoration of the Zulu Kingdom to its former glory before the arrival of colonisers in 1652,” he said.

He said under his administration, Durban would not have a high unemployment, poverty and crime rate.

Mavundla, who owns a shopping centre named after him, has twice jumped...