Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini's suggestion that KwaZulu-Natal's name be changed should be supported because the current name is associated with suffering and humiliation, the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC) said on Monday.
"Natal is a colonial name. The name was coined by Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese navigator because he arrived in this part of African on December 25 1497. Natal means Christmas Day in Portuguese.
"But Natal has also caused much suffering, dispossession [and] humiliation of African people and murder of African leaders there.
"Much blood was caused to Africans at the Battle of Encome [Blood River] where thousands were killed for protecting their own country against the invading colonialists greedy of African land," said PAC president Motsoko Pheko.
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