Pietermaritzburg
Pietermaritzburg is the capital of KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa, and before the end of Apartheid in 1994 it was the capital of Natal Province. Popularly called Maritzburg, it was founded by the Boers in 1838. Pietermaritzburg is also home to a campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. Estimated population: 228,549 (1991).
Capital status
Prior to the end of apartheid in 1994, Pietermaritbzurg was the capital of the South African province of Natal.
Following the first post-apartheid elections in South Africa, as a result of which the Inkatha Freedom Party won a majority in the KwaZulu Natal provincial government, Pietermaritzburg shared its status as capital of the (then newly-created) province of KwaZulu Natal with Ulundi. Pietermaritzburg became the legislative capital of the new province, while Ulundi became the administrative capital.
The IFP, being strongly Zulu nationalist, desired that Ulundi, the capital of the Zulu Kingdom at the time of its fall to the British in the Anglo-Zulu War, be the post-apartheid capital of the province. Ulundi had also been the capital of the bantustan KwaZulu, which makes up a portion of modern KwaZulu Natal.
However, Ulundi severely lacked the infrastructure to be an effective seat of government, and the ANC and the DP, the two other strong political parties in the province, among others, called for Pietermaritzburg alone to be the capital. This was in the face of enormous spending on the IFP's part on moving the past infrastructure of the Natal Provincial Administration to Ulundi, which included the purchasing of a learjet, for the purposes of ferrying government employees to Ulundi and back for meetings.
The debate came to an end when the ANC came to power in the province in 2004, and named Pietermaritzburg the sole capital of KwaZulu Natal. [1] The city has experienced rapid economic growth since this occurred, and land prices have risen sharply.
Some history
Pietermaritzburg was founded in the 19th century AD, and was named after Piet Retief and Gert Maritz, two famous Voortrekker leaders, one of whom was murdered by Dingane, successor to Shaka, king of the Zulus. At the time of the rise of the Zulu Empire, the site that was to become Pietermaritzburg was called Umgungundlovu, Zulu for "Place of the Elephant". I've been told this is because Shaka had his warriors hunt elephant there, to sell the ivory to English traders at Durban, then called Port Natal. Today, the town is still called by its Voortrekker name, although the municipality it is part of bears the Zulu name.
Pietermaritzburg is also famous for an incident early in the life of Mahatma Gandhi, wherein he was thrown off a train for riding in the first class carriage (and being Indian). This incident inspired Gandhi to begin his career protesting against laws discriminating against Indians in South Africa. Today, a bronze statue of Gandhi stands in Church Street, in the city centre.
The University of Natal (the university of Kwazulu-Natal was only formed at the begining of 2004), which took an active part in the struggle against Apartheid, and was one of the first universities in the country to provide education to black students.
Other claims to fame
The city hall is the largest red-brick building in the Southern Hemisphere, and has been burned down twice.
Pietermaritzburg is also home to the largest statue of a horse in the world, which stands outside the recently constructed Golden Horse Casino.