By Mlondi Radebe
Pietermaritzburg, like many other parts of South Africa, saw bitter political violence that led to death and grief during the country’s era of apartheid and there is a worry that this isn’t spoken about as it should be and there’s a massive risk that it can be forgotten.
A Pietermaritzburg-born award-winning author and producer of documentary films, Mazwi Ngubane, says he wants the history and the architectural buildings to put the capital city of the Province of KwaZulu-Natal back on the world map by producing more films and stories about the city. “I realised that the youth of Pietermaritzburg was not aware of what happened during political violence in KZN, and in Pietermaritzburg, in particular, they are not even aware of the icons of Pietermaritzburg and that is why I decided to make this documentary to preserve that history.”
He describes it as a heart-wrenching documentary film that captured incidents that took place in 1990s when the political violence when it was in its peak between Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and United Democratic Front (UDF) or African National Congress (ANC). “There are incidents where we also speak to icons of Pietermaritzburg, they call them warlords, people like David Ntombela and the families of Sichiza Zuma and other victims in Imbali and Edendale areas.”
The greater Edendale area outside Pietermaritzburg is home to over 300 thousand people with an unemployment rate of over 40%. This area was once a battlefield at the height of political violence in the 1990s between the IFP and the United Democratic Front.
During the seven-day war, over 80 people were killed and over a hundred and twenty homes were burnt down when the IFP supporters allegedly attacked areas including KwaCaluza,Ashdown, and Edendale.
It’s alleged that the violence was sparked by people from these areas, which were regarded as a stronghold of the United Democratic Front at the time. Buses ferrying IFP supporters from Elandskop that were passing the area as the headed to a party rally in Durban were pelted with stones.
Community members accused IFP supporters of forcing them to leave their homes in the Vulindlela area when they refused to join the movement.
On the 26th of March 1990, David Ntombela who was the IFP leader in the Midlands called a meeting with his party supporters in Vulindlela. After that gathering supporters travelled to Edendale where they are accused of then attacking people in the area for seven days. Many fled and their homes were torched.
Ngubane added that it was not easy for him to interview the dubbed warlords for his film documentary.
