Ingwavuma is a town in the Umkhanyakude District Municipality of

KwaZulu-Natal Province KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locat ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. It is unclear where the name of the town came from; one theory is that it was named after the

Ngwavuma River The Ngwavuma is a river in Eswatini and KwaZulu-Natal Province in southern Africa. It is also known as the Inguavuma, Ingwavuma, Ingwovuma, and Nggwavuma, and is one of the five major rivers in Eswatini. It arises in southwestern Eswatini and flo ...

while another is that there was a leader called Vuma, the name then meaning "Vuma's place" in Zulu. Trees found on the river bank are also named Ngwavuma (''Elaeodendron transvaalense'' or Bushveld Saffron) but it is unclear which entity was named after which (person, river, town or trees). It is over

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

in the

Lebombo Mountains The Lebombo Mountains, also called Lubombo Mountains ( pt, Montes Libombos), are an , narrow range of mountains in Southern Africa. They stretch from Hluhluwe in KwaZulu-Natal in the south to Punda Maria in the Limpopo Province in South Africa in ...

and boasts several highly scenic spots. The town is from the country's border with

Eswatini Eswatini ( ; ss, eSwatini ), officially the Kingdom of Eswatini and formerly named Swaziland ( ; officially renamed in 2018), is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. It is bordered by Mozambique to its northeast and South Africa to its no ...

and overlooks the plains of

Maputaland Maputaland is a natural region of Southern Africa. It is located in the northern part of the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa between Eswatini and the coast. In a wider sense it may also include the southernmost region of Mozambique. The bi ...

to the East.

History

Zulu king

Dingane Dingane ka Senzangakhona Zulu (–29 January 1840), commonly referred to as Dingane or Dingaan, was a Zulu chief who became king of the Zulu Kingdom in 1828, after assassinating his brother Shaka. He set up his royal capital, uMgungundlovu, a ...

was assassinated and buried in the nearby

Hlatikhulu Forest Hlatikulu Forest is a coastal scarp forest in the Lebombo Mountains of South Africa, between Ingwavuma and the Pongola Gorge. The forest is also known as the Gwaliweni Forest. History It is the site of the murder of the Zulu King Dingane by Zul ...

in 1840. Ingwavuma was founded by Sir Charles Saunders of

Eshowe Eshowe is the oldest town of European settlement in Zululand, historically also known as Eziqwaqweni, Ekowe or kwaMondi. Eshowe's name is said to be inspired by the sound of wind blowing through the more than 4 km² of the indigenous Dlinza ...

in 1895 as a magistracy for the Ngwavuma region. During the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

in 1899 the settlement was razed to the ground by a

Boer Boers ( ; af, Boere ()) are the descendants of the Dutch-speaking Free Burghers of the eastern Cape Colony, Cape frontier in Southern Africa during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. From 1652 to 1795, the Dutch East India Company controll ...

commando under the command of

Joachim Ferreira Joachim Johannes Ferreira (8 August 1835 – 16 May 1917) was a Boer commandant of the First Boer War. Life Ferreira was born near Uitenhage and was taken on the Great Trek as an infant. He married Adriana Davel and had a daughter. He sett ...

. The serving magistrate, B. Colenbrander, escaped with his staff to the flats below and eventually found his way to

Ubombo Ubombo, is a small town in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa about 17 km north-east of Mkuze Mkuze, also named Mkhuze or uMkhuze is a small town in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is located approximately 350 km from the ...

. Ingwavuma remained desolate until 1900 when it was re-established and the magistrate returned. In the 1980s the

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

government planned to transfer the town and surrounding magisterial district to Swaziland as part of a land deal to give

access to the sea. This move was opposed by the then

KwaZulu KwaZulu was a semi-independent bantustan in South Africa, intended by the apartheid government as a homeland for the Zulu people. The capital was moved from Nongoma to Ulundi in 1980. It was led until its abolition in 1994 by Chief Mangosuth ...

government and the Zulu King Goodwill Zwelethini established a residence near the town. The transfer was never executed. The surviving historic buildings of the town include the residency (now the municipal buildings), the police station and the Old Gaol Building.

Services and facilities

* Mosvold Hospital is located within the centre of the town. The hospital was initially established by

The Evangelical Alliance Mission The Evangelical Alliance Mission (TEAM) is an inter-denominational evangelical Christian missionary organization founded by Fredrik Franson. As a global missions agency, TEAM partners with the global church in sending disciples who make disciple ...

as a mission hospital but has subsequently been taken over by the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Health. * There are a number of schools in and around the town including Ingwavuma High School, Nansindlela School, Isicelosethu High School, Magugu Primary, Our Lady Primary, Lundini Primary, Mbalekelwa primary and Khethani Christian School. * Local offices of the government departments of Social Development, Agriculture, Education and Home Affairs. There is also a police station, magistrate's court and prison. * Several NGOs also provide services including Zisize (Ingwavuma) Educational Trust which is the mother to Ekukhanyeni cluster foster care scheme, Ingwavuma Women's Centre and Embathisa, both providing income generation activities for local women, Ingwavuma Orphan Care providing community hospice care and orphan care in the community . * There is a small shopping centre consisting of a Spar, PEP, Ellerines, Ithala Bank and a petrol garage along with some Chinese-owned shops. * In 1962, the town was made the seat of the Apostolic Prefecture of Ingwavuma. * Ingwavuma has an access road to the border with Swaziland, known as Cecil max pas border post which was closed due to stolen vehicles being smuggled through there. Later it was renamed to Freedom dots border post. The road to this border post to Swaziland lies between a Lebombo mountain hillside and the Ngwavuma river.

Geography

Ingwavuma is located on top of a mountain in the Lebombo mountain range with several caves in its vicinity. To the west it overlooks the plains of

. East the hills drop towards the

while the Lebombo mountain range continues north towards

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

and south towards

Jozini Jozini is a settlement in Umkhanyakude District Municipality in the KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. Jozini is a small town on the main route to Mozambique, and it is close to the Jozini or Pongolapoort Dam. Lake Jozini, as the dam is ca ...

. The Ngwavuma River, one of five major rivers in Swaziland originates in this area.

HIV/AIDS

The Ingwavuma Area has been decimated by

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

since the 1990s. In 2002, in Jozini municipality, 57% of people were less than 19 years of age, one third of adults were thought to be HIV positive with uninfected adults having a 3% chance of contracting HIV in any particular year. Several Non-Governmental Organisations are addressing the problems caused by HIV/AIDS, led by Ingwavuma Orphan Care. A mobile voluntary counseling and testing unit (VCT) was started in 2008 by Ingwavuma Orphan Care. It tests around 5000 people a year, with its focus on youth. It found a prevalence rate of 8% among males and 18% among females. While antiretroviral treatment is now available through the government, there are already thousands of orphans who require support. The majority of these are cared for by their extended family with support from churches, NGOs and the government.

References

External links