- KwaZulu-Natal
- Umdoni Platteland
- Sezela
Sezela, Umdoni Platteland, KwaZulu-Natal
- Inligting
- Winkels & Dienste (3)
Sezela is a small town with a big sugar mill in KwaZulu-Natal on the mouth of iSezela River.
Tradition tells of a man-eating crocodile which once terrorized the Malangeni tribe. The crocodile was called iSezela, meaning 'the one who smells out', for it was said that it hunted like a wild dog sniffing a trail.
In 1828, when Shaka led his Zulu army down the coast, he heard of this reptile and resolved to have its skin. A hunt was organized. Shaka's men went into the river with their spears and killed the crocodile.
Today the legend of iSezela lives on in the name of the river and in the village at its mouth, which grew up around a big sugar mill.
The Sezela River was originally known as the Malangeni River, after the Malangeni people who lived on its banks, but it was later renamed after the crocodile.