Land and development at Indaleni: A historical perspective

Abstract

This paper reviews the history of land allocation, land use and also some of the major attempts made over the last century to introduce change and what is now popularly referred to as development at Indaleni, a black community which is predominantly Zulu, but where there has been a strong white mission presence for over a hundred years. It is argued that the missionaries and colonial administrators of the last century were the forerunners of many of the interest groups active in the development field at Indaleni and elsewhere in KwaZulu/Natal today. Although the aims of intervention have changed, the high‐handed methods and above all the certainty with which many outsiders approach ‘development’ has not. Chronicled also are white attitudes to granting freehold land tenure to blacks in Natal and consideration is given to the reasons why the first missionaries to work at Indaleni failed to achieve their aim of not only converting local people to Christianity, but of equipping them with skills to compete with whites in an integrated social and economic community.

Notes

Eleanor Preston‐Whyte is Associate Professor in Social Anthropology in the Department of African Studies, University of Natal, Durban. Besides research at Indaleni she has worked extensively on the problems of black women in the informal sector in KwaZulu/Natal. Her previous research focused on domestic servants and developing household structures in black urban areas.