Page 57 - Heritage Streets of KwaMashu 2025

SECTION C
EMLANJENI
From Cape to Cairo, Morocco to Madagascar, Africa is endowed with great rivers. Each river is known by its name, which at times describe its nature, its doing and its history. In isiXhosa (Nguni) the word for river is
“Umlambo” and an equal isiZulu (Nguni) word is “umfula”.
Since all the street names in C-Section are named after the famous KwaZulu-Natal rivers, it is therefore geographically demarcated as eMlanjeni from the word “umlambo”. In Nguni culture, water, “amanzi” is spiritual. It is also said that water spirit does not travel far (confined in rivers, pools, dams, lakes, ocean, etc.) and the one wanting to connect with it must go to its place to be clothed with its power.
The African water spirit is in isiNguni called“Mamlambo”(mother of water/river) mostly in in the spirit form of a snake/mermaid (“Mommy Water, Mamba Muntu, Mama Mati” - a water goddess deified widely throughout Africa as the respected water divinities). (The story of the water goddess in the mermaid form is today even told in some Western and Asian countries. Some old oral narrations by sailors say it had the power to even stop the ships from their sail, and sometimes appeased by offerings of gifts and even sacrifices).
Human life is both literally and metaphorically unthinkable without water, which permeates and enlivens every form of human activity. Water is equally important for all living organisms, flowing through plants, animals and humans. For many people water epitomizes the connections and integration of living processes: as the life-giving element enabling production and reproduction, and as a substance of community and belonging. And, being essential to all productive processes, it can readily become a means of control and domination.
In African spirituality, water is regarded as a source of life, as an instrument of purification (ritual cleansing of polluted people and premises), and as a locus of regeneration. Across race, faith and creed, water is fundamental seriously viewed to the spiritual life of South Africans. It is the necessary element for “cleansing, purification and initiation”. Its bodies are the dwelling places of our ancient ones, and carry and connect us with them across space and time through story, through ritual and prayer. In KwaZulu, all waterfalls and rivers are regarded as sacred to the Zulu and to the Sangoma/Diviners. They are part of the ancestral consciousness which the Sangomas work with and are an inheritance for all the people. Sangomas believe in
the power of water, especially that of the river and waterfall. They know that there are places along the river which hold powerful and sacred energy and connect to sacred sites in the land. Sangomas, to this day, still honour the river, the waterfalls and sacred water sites – interacting with them through ritual and ceremony.
Human civilizations flourished along waterways and throughout our history, the value of water has been enshrined in ritual and tradition. The value of water is multifaceted. It has inherent value to every one of us because we need water to survive and prosper. But water also has a timeless spiritual value
HERITAGE STREETS OF KWA-MASHU 53