KwaZulu-Natal’s King Goodwill Zwelithini says public hospitals with colonial names should be renamed in honour of African heroes.
|||Durban - Public hospitals with colonial names needed to be renamed urgently as these were people who had oppressed the Zulus and should not be remembered, King Goodwill Zwelithini said at the unveiling of a statue of King Dinuzulu in Durban on Thursday.
He was speaking in Sydenham at King Dinuzulu Hospital (formerly King George V hospital) which was renamed to honour his great-great-grandfather earlier this year.
Speaking in Zulu after he had unveiled the R260 000 statue, the king thanked the health department for changing the hospital’s name but said the government should fast-track renaming other facilities.
“King George was a British king who oppressed the Zulus. As his (King Dinuzulu’s) great-great-grandson, I welcomed the name change because I felt it was important. It had taken too long,” he said.
Flanked by eThekwini mayor James Nxumalo and Health MEC Sibongiseni Dhlomo, the king said the Zulus had been oppressed but had fought for the province and the country.
Referring to the Anglo-Zulu wars, he said many Zulus had died due to colonialism and that the name change of facilities like public hospitals recognised this.
The king was elated when he removed the fabric and uncovered the statue, which depicts Dinuzulu with a beard, seated in a chair.
It is encased in glass.
“My khokho (great-great-grandfather) would be proud and happy as well.”
Like Napoleon, Dinuzulu was imprisoned in 1890 on St Helena Island by the British for seven years for leading an army against them.
In 2007, a statue of Dinuzulu - which faces that of his friend, the Boer general Louis Botha in Berea Road, Durban - was unveiled.
It cost of R600 000.
Sibongile Zungu, the head of the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health, said she had supported the idea of a statue for the hospital.
It was designed and crafted by a young group of unemployed artists.
Asked to comment on the king’s call to change the names of hospitals, she replied: “For the next five to 10 years, plans are in place to change the names of hospitals but we are focusing on changing the names of mortuaries first. The names have to showcase KwaZulu-Natal and Zulus,” she said.
She preferred not to divulge the names of hospitals that were in line to be renamed.
Mack Lewele, spokesman for the Arts and Culture Department, which administers the South African Geographical Names Council, said: “Any person or institution can propose a name change but there is a need to consult all stakeholders before new names are gazetted.”
Some of the colonial-era names that could be changed are:
* Addington Hospital, which was built in 1879 and named after Henry Addington, the prime minister of Great Britain in 1801.
* King Edward VIII Hospital, built in 1936, was named after the British king, who ruled for only a year in 1936 before abdicating.
* Grey’s Hospital in Pietermaritzburg was named after Sir George Grey, governor of the Cape Colony and High Commissioner for adjacent territories. He visited Pietermaritzburg in 1855.
DA health spokeswoman Makhosazana Mdlalose said South African heroes needed to be honoured and that the party welcomed the renaming.
ANC spokesman Senzo Mkhize said the party supported the idea because it would “correct the history of South Africa”.
The Mercury