A part of Inanda that many people hardly see. The chapel at The Octavia Boutique Hotel in eTafuleni, Inanda that has hosted many high-end events since it opened its doors in 2022.
Image: Meta/The Octavia Boutique Hotel
INANDA Dam in the background offers various water-based activities from fishing to kayaking. The Taiwanese Peijing Li of Ten Drum on a visit to to Inanda. The percussion group gave a vibrant outdoor performance at Inanda Dam years ago as part of their tour of four cities in South Africa. The young drummers joined forces with Drum Shack and a group from the Inanda Seminary in a pulsating eNanda Duelling Drums finale. The performance and the Ten Drum’s tour of the Inanda Heritage Route were filmed by a Taiwanese television crew for flighting in Taiwan.
Image: SUPPLIED
Mention Inanda and, for many, images of guns, violence and death immediately come to mind. Yet residents are quick to counter this one-dimensional portrayal, insisting it ignores the lived reality on the ground. While the area’s notoriety cannot be wished away, normal life continues, and many people are not directly affected by crime. Within this reality lives a deep desire for the world to see a different Inanda, one defined by its rich history and cultural significance rather than its worst moments.
The recent killing of five men in Bester was swiftly linked to Inanda, much to the frustration of locals. Bester, residents point out, is not in Inanda but borders KwaMashu and Ntuzuma. Still, headlines and broadcast bulletins screamed “Inanda”, reinforcing a reputation that many feel is unfairly applied, even when crimes occur outside its boundaries.
Crime, community and resistance
Crime in the area cannot be ignored, nor should it be exaggerated. Community initiatives continue to push back, including sport-based interventions aimed at fostering anti-crime awareness. One such initiative was the Inanda Lasuka Lahlala Sport Against Crime Football and Netball Tournament, held from December 29 to 31, with more than R80 000 in cash prizes for winners and runners-up.
Last year, the criminal West Gang dominated headlines with reports of killings, sexual offences and extortion. The area's reputation is not helped by sections like Mshayazafe (literally meaning, "beat him/her to death"). Yet tourism operators and community leaders insist that crime, however serious, is not the sum total of Inanda’s story.
The Inanda Heritage Route
At the heart of efforts to reframe the narrative is the Inanda Heritage Route, a culturally and historically significant trail connecting sites that tell key chapters of South Africa’s social, political and educational history. Conceived as a heritage-driven tourism and education initiative, the route highlights places associated with Mahatma Gandhi’s early activism, including the Phoenix Settlement, where he developed his philosophy of nonviolent resistance.
The route also includes Ohlange Institute, founded by the African National Congress’s first president, John Langalibalele Dube, along with his homestead and grave, sites central to the story of early African education and leadership.
Inanda Seminary: a cradle of women leaders
Another jewel on the route is Inanda Seminary, one of the earliest secondary schools for African girls in southern Africa. Its legacy is vast, having educated generations of women who became leaders and trailblazers across politics, academia, the arts, activism, business and civil society.
Among its alumnae are Baleka Mbete, former Speaker of the National Assembly; Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge, former Deputy Minister of Defence and Health and Deputy Speaker of Parliament; the late Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, former Minister of Health; Lucy Mvubelo, trade unionist and women’s activist; and Bertha Mkhize, a political activist and early advocate for women’s rights who also taught at the school.
Others include Eileen Nkosi-Shandu, politician and author; Nokutela Dube, co-founder of Ilanga lase Natal newspaper and Ohlange Institute; Lauretta Ngcobo, renowned novelist and activist; Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela, academic and human-rights scholar; Nonkululeko Nyembezi-Heita, corporate leader; and Thandi Orleyn, senior legal professional, among many others.
Ohlange High School and liberation history
Ohlange High School has also produced a remarkable list of luminaries, both departed and living, who continue to shape South Africa and the world. Its alumni include Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, former Deputy President of South Africa and former Executive Director of UN Women, who was both a learner and later a teacher at the school; and Thoko Didiza, who has held several Cabinet portfolios, including Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.
Judicial heavyweight John Hlophe, former Western Cape Judge President and now an uMkhonto weSizwe Party Member of Parliament, is also a product of Ohlange. So too is Inkosi Albert Luthuli, South Africa’s first Nobel Peace Prize laureate and the ANC's first president. The school also nurtured talents in arts and sport, including the late world-music composer and singer Busi Mhlongo, influential jazz musician Victor Ntoni, and South Africa’s first international football star, Stephen “Kalamazoo” Mokone.
Ohlange High School holds additional national symbolism as the site where Nelson Mandela cast his vote in South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994.
Faith, pilgrimage and identity
Inanda is also home to the headquarters of one of South Africa’s largest churches, the Nazareth Baptist Church, popularly known as the Shembe Church. The church has millions of followers nationwide and is led by two factions, eBuhleni, under Inkosi Mduduzi Shembe, and eKuphakameni, under Inkosi Vukile Shembe.
Blending Christianity with Zulu traditions, the church’s annual January sacred pilgrimage to the holy mountains of Khenana and Nhlangakazi is a powerful spectacle, with thousands of worshippers dressed in white filling the roads between Inanda and Ndwedwe.
Global recognition and heritage status
The heritage route was developed not only to preserve historic sites but also to stimulate local tourism and socio-economic empowerment by leveraging Inanda’s deep historical significance.
The Ohlange Institute precinct has received international recognition as part of UNESCO’s Human Rights, Liberation and Reconciliation: Nelson Mandela Legacy Sites listing. The designation includes the original school hall, John Dube’s house and cemetery, and ties Ohlange to a network of sites that chronicle South Africa’s struggle against apartheid. It is also a declared National Heritage Site under the National Heritage Resources Act through the South African Heritage Resources Agency.
Hospitality and natural attractions
Inanda’s tourism offering continues to grow. The opening of The Octavia Boutique Hotel in eTafuleni in September 2022 marked a milestone, bringing a high-end hospitality option that has already hosted prominent guests and events.
To the west lies Inanda Dam, part of the broader Inanda region within the Valley of a Thousand Hills, about 40 to 45 kilometres from Durban’s city centre. The dam is a major attraction, offering water-based activities such as power boating, yachting, canoeing, kayaking, jet skiing and fishing, with species including bass and carp. Surrounding areas also cater for camping, picnicking, hiking, water trails and mountain biking.
Reclaiming the narrative
Gunshots may still ring out from time to time, as they do in many townships, and communities continue to grapple with crime alongside police and community policing forums. But to those invested in its heritage, potential and future, Inanda’s tourism sector offers a compelling invitation.
Come to Inanda, they say, and discover a heritage route richer and more enduring than the notoriety of any criminal gang terrorising the community in its quest to turn the area into a gangsters' paradise.
TWO young men silhoutted as they walk pass the mural on the Curnick Ndlovu highway, popularly known as M25 in Inanda depicting Inanda area and Inanda Dam.
Image: DOCTOR NGCOBO Independent Newspapers