Nshongweni (L 13)

Name: Nshongweni

http://www.friendsoftherail.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=109&t=5426&view=previous

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Historic fact:


Around the mid and late 1980s the definition of a liberated zone had
begun to be violently contested within KwaZulu. Many of the people living
downstream from Thor at Fredville and 'Tin Town' were refugees from
violence in other regions such as Nshongweni. I worked with Lambrecht
exploring the terrain in the Valley below Thor, including dipping bottles
into muddy river beds, as well as helping him hear of people's tragedies at
the hands of warlords. Since the St Louis Post-Dispatch has circulation
amongst American political circles, I had hoped the Thor story might have
carried a political message to the heart of Washington. The story I had
naively wished to piggy back on the toxic one was that of the tragically
divisive consequences when an ethnic culture and identity is mobilised to
consolidate regional power - especially when done so with the blessing of
the apartheid state.
Instead, the headline read: 'Zulus Get Exported Poison: U.S. Mercury
Waste Pollutes Drinking Water in S. Africa'. The picture painted was one
of innocent rural Zulu life in the Valley of a Thousand Hills being debased
by American effluent. Lambrecht did not, however, paint a picture of Zulu
Arcadia, but referred to the people downstream in Fredville as poor, almost
landless refugees. However, beyond apartheid, he did not look into causes.
The situation had become critical in such places as a result of Zulu cultural
identity becoming politicised in order to draw boundaries and shore up the
Inkatha Freedom Party's (IFP) power in other places in KwaZulu. In
retrospect, however, it should have come as no surprise that an American
journalist would portray the Valley as anything but an adulterated 'other'
place. He saw and photographed 'Jamina Ndlovu,12, fetching water from
the stream'. He was exposed to culture shock induced from strong drink
and goat's meat consumed in a new homestead full of relatives seeking the
blessing of the ancestors for the site. He saw Jerome Kanyesi, 15, 'leading
his family's cows down a nearby hill to drink from the stream' who told him
that they are used for milk and beef. His concluding point that the area is
'rich in wildlife' which is 'hunted for food', was based on a single sighting
of an antelope which 'bolted up the hill 50 yards from the [Thor Chemicals]
plant' (St Louis Post-Dispatch, November 26, 1989). As Foucault notes,
'utopias permit fables and discourse: they run with the very grain of
language and are part of the fundamental dimension ofthefabula' (1970: vi).
41
Malcolm Draper
The Valley may have been rich in wildlife when nature and culture meshed
in such a way that this could be so. Whether or not this past of sylvan
harmony is more mythical than real, the western eye is still wont to project
it eastwards over the Valley from the road. Such a longing gaze makes for
a heterotopic place, but to write of it as such is far more difficult since,
according to Foucault, 'heterotopias ... dessicate speech, stop words in
their tracks, contest the very possibility of grammar at its source; they
dissolve our myths and sterilize the lyricism of our sentences'. (1970 :xviii).
Perhaps the unresolvable toxic legacy of Thor represents the capitalist
mode of production having run its logical global course, leaving no
evidence of having improved the majority of lives, nor any convincing sign
of viable alternatives on the horizon. I imagine that it is in the spirit of
Foucault's point about the challenge of such a writing task, that I name this
tour narrative a 'tough guide'.

http://www.transformation.ukzn.ac.za/archive/tran043/tran043004.pdf

Other interesting info:

The Shongweni Resource Reserve at Shongweni dam, built in 1927, it is the Jewel of the East Coast and the gateway to Durban, a piece of the true Africa.
www.nature-reserve.co.za/shongweni-game-preserve.html

Shongweni Brewery is nestled in the Valley of a Thousand Hills, in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. We offer you, Robson's our range of unique, locally brewed, ...
www.shongwenibrewery.com/ - Cached - Similar

Part 1: Early days - as recollected by Betty Sprott.

In 1944/5, when petrol rationing was very strict, a good many of the horsy residents of Gillitts, Hillcrest and Kloof felt that their social life was almost nonexistent so they arranged to have a �meet� each Sunday. A �cap� was taken, with the accumulated funds going to the Spitfire fund, or other war charities.

A gathering place such as the old Pepperpots or Christians was arranged and about 10 � 15 riders, parents and children, would arrive and then go on a ride for 2 or 3 hours returning to the home of the nominated hostess of the week. The wives who were not riders would collect at the house, bringing contributions of food and drinks, and a wonderful tea awaited the return of the thirsty and hungry horsemen.

John Gersigny, John Gordon Thomson, Edward Lawden and George Rawdon, were the instigators of this friendly club (although there had been a Kloof and District Riding Club pre war which had died) and the outings and social gatherings were so popular and so much enjoyed that in the late 1946 it was decided to try and lease or buy land and build a clubhouse and form a bigger riding club; to hold paper chases and gymkhanas etc, and generally provide entertainment and promote horsemanship amongst the young.

In the 1940�s and 50�s the whole area was under wattle and not cane, the firebreaks between the plantations provided long gallops on grass. In the hot weather the wattles provided lovely cool shade.

John Gersigny and John Gordon Thomson rode many miles trying to find suitable ground and through the interest and generosity of Mr. Mackenzie of the Natal Wattle Co, the long lease of the present Shongweni Club�s land was arranged. Club members had to remove the stumps of the wattle trees at their own cost and they provided labour � grooms and gardeners �to build a few crude stables, and the first clubhouse of mud and sticks, which is still standing.

George Rawdon, then a retired dental surgeon who later designed and built Rawdon�s Hotel, was in charge of the building. He became the first chairman of the club, which had changed its name from the Kloof and District Riding Club to the Shongweni Club.

At that time it was hoped that the club would become a country club and that the non-riding parents of horse mad children would be able to fill their day in playing tennis and swimming, but unfortunately Mr. Skit Field had the idea of starting Kloof Country Club at the same time, and so Shongweni remained a riding club.




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