Page 14 - Heritage Streets of KwaMashu 2025

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HERITAGE STREETS OF KWA-MASHU
PART II
2. OVERVIEW
Kwa Mashu At Glance: Sir Marshall Campbell, the sugar magnate, had a name the Zulus found difficult to pronounce, so they reduced it to ‘mashu’, hence Kwa Mashu, the place of Marshall. The early settlement developed into a township in 1958 – the land was originally owned by abasemaQadini (the Qadi clan). The township gained notoriety due to “gangsterism” – hence the nickname eSinqawunqawini – the dog that eats other dogs.
Funny enough the name eSinqawunqawini – is said to have come about because of a woman cook vendor who when her meat she was selling had finished, therefore called the young boys to slaughter the stray aggressive dog –
this was due to high demand of meat by workers constructing the rail line to Kwa Mashu – who always frequent her place. She did not tell them they were eating the dog meat – and when in their honesty praised her best meat of the that day and wanted to know of what animal it was – she simple answered them – “it is the “isinqawunqawu meat” (“isinqawunqawu” because of the nature of the aggressive dog when captured by the boys – “ibidla kwasani isinqawuza nje – iyisinqawunqawu – khokha mama”). After someday the men who ate the “strange” isinqawunqawu meat discovered that they were actually fed the dog meat (“isinqawunqawu meat”). Oral narration reveals that when the angry men went to the local police station to report the “meat” woman the policemen on duty laughed at the men until they almost wet their pants and the men left even more angrier! Isinqawunqawu name – was from them associated by Kwa- Mashu and its people associated with that famous aggressive dog (maybe Kwa-Mashu should have a DOG totem, for example in Germany, Berlin city has a Bear totem even for its awards). Kwa Mashu is also famous as ”intshebe ya Kwa Mashu” (the