KwaZulu-Natal: The Name Tells A Story of Richness, Of Who We Are

Letters to the editor

Time to vote for competence

There are moments in politics when a single statement captures the full distance between government and the governed.

Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi’s remarks to Johannesburg residents that, when there is no water, he simply goes to a hotel to bathe is one such moment. For communities that have gone days without running water, that statement is not just tone deaf. It is insulting.

Families have been forced to wake up at dawn to queue for water tankers. Elderly residents carry buckets. Mothers ration what little water they can store for cooking and basic hygiene. Small businesses suffer losses. Schools struggle to function. Hospitals and clinics operate under pressure. Water is not a luxury – it is a constitutional right and a basic human necessity.

Leadership, especially in a crisis, demands empathy and accountability. It demands urgency. It demands that those in power feel the discomfort of the people they serve, not escape it.When a Premier says he goes to a hotel to bathe, he unintentionally exposes the deeper problem: A governing party that has options ordinary citizens do not. A political elite insulated from the consequences of its own failures.

The water crisis in Joburg did not fall from the sky. It is the result of years of infrastructure neglect, cadre deployment, financial mismanagement, and political instability. Pipes burst because maintenance budgets are misused. Reservoirs run dry because planning is poor. Entities collapse because merit is replaced with loyalty.

South Africans must ask: How many more crises must we endure before we accept that the governing party is unable or unwilling to fix what it has broken?

Voting is not a ritual. It is accountability. When services collapse and leaders respond with indifference, the ballot becomes the only instrument citizens have to demand change. Continuing to reward failure with votes guarantees more failure. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing repeatedly and expecting a different outcome.

There is an alternative. Where alternative governance has been given space, service has improved. Financial discipline has been restored. Infrastructure has been maintained. Experience matters. Administrative competence matters. Political will matters. South Africa does not suffer from a lack of resources, but from a lack of governance. The country needs leaders who treat public service as a responsibility, not a privilege; who fix systems rather than explain away failure; who share the burdens of citizens rather than escape them. The water crisis in Jozi is not just about water. It is about dignity, respect, and whether leaders understand that public office exists to serve those without hotels to retreat to.

Democracy only works when citizens use it. The choice is simple – endure more excuses, or demand better. At the ballot box, that choice is yours. Thulani Dasa Khayelitsha

A love letter to KwaZulu-Natal

Dear KwaZulu-Natal,

For Valentine’s Day tomorrow, I write not to a person, but to a place that has shaped my heart and my sense of belonging.

You are a province of extraordinary diversity, where cultures meet, languages mingle, and traditions live side by side in daily life. From the sun-kissed beaches of the coast to the rolling green hills and mighty mountains inland, you carry a warmth that is both felt and remembered.

Your vibrancy is unmistakable. Markets hum with colour and music. Townships and suburbs pulse with resilience and hope. The ocean breathes life into the city, while rural communities hold fast to roots that stretch back generations. There is a spirit here that welcomes, heals and endures.

It is for this reason that your full name matters.

KwaZulu-Natal is not simply a label; it is a story. “Natal” is part of the history that shaped the province we know today. Every road, harbour, school and community carries traces of that past. To remove it would be to airbrush a chapter that helped form the identity we now celebrate.

History is not always simple, but it is always instructive. The strength, diversity and openness of this province grew from its layered past. We honour that legacy not by erasing it, but by learning from it and building something better upon it.

I love you for your sunlight, your storms, your kindness and your courage. I love the way strangers greet one another, the way families gather, the way the sea meets the land without apology. You are vibrant, resilient and alive. Zulu and those of use of Indian and European descent have meshed together to form a people like no other.'

On Valentine’s Day and all others, I celebrate you as you are – whole, complex and proud. May your name, in all its parts, continue to remind us where we come from and what we can be. May future generations inherit your beauty, honesty and shared humanity, and guard every part of your story with wisdom and care always proudly.

You make me proud to be a resident of this paradise on Earth and to call myself a KwaZulu-Natalian, because in spite of all your challenges, there is nowhere else I would rather be.

With much love and gratitude, G Nostuh Bluff

DAILY NEWS