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PLEASE NOTE THAT THE KWAZULU-NATAL MUSEUM IS CURRENTLY CLOSED FOR SANITIZATION DUE TO COVID-19

WE WILL REOPEN ON MONDAY, 11 JANUARY 2021

WE APOLOGISE FOR ANY INCONVENIENCE CAUSED

We would like to urge everyone to take great care of themselves and stay safe during this time. Make sure you wear a mask that covers your nose and mouth when you are in public, sanitize, and keep a distance of at least 1.5-meter between you and the next person.

If you are experiencing any symptoms such as a fever, dry cough, tiredness, or shortness of breath please seek medical assistance urgently.

For more information about COVID19 visit:

https://sacoronavirus.co.za/

or contact the COVID-19 Public Hotline Number at:

0800 029 999

Or WhatsApp Support Line:

0600 123 456

Stay safe and stay blessed

#kznMuseum #staysafe #COVID19 #wearamask #socialdistance #stayathome

On 1 December 1838, slaves were emancipated at the Cape Colony in South Africa. Some 39,000 slaves were freed from the system of “apprenticeship”. While slaves were brought into the country by the Dutch from their other colonies around the world, the slave system impacted the Khoisan peoples of southern Africa most harshly. Commandos of colonists would conduct raids against San peoples—often on the pretext that the San were simply stock thieves—for the purposes of acquiring slaves. In such cases, San men were often killed and the women and children taken into bondage, to serve as labour on Colonial farms. The treatment of slaves in South Africa was often brutal, with psychological, physical and sexual abuse commonplace.

The abolition of slavery by Britain in 1834—also on 1 December—would lead directly to the end of slavery at the Cape, which was by 1838 a British Colony. While slavery was officially ended, the process of colonial exploitation of Khoisan and other peoples was far from over; over the course of the nineteenth century, the Khoisan would see their lands expropriated without compensation, their hunting grounds destroyed by European greed and they would be forced through taxation into the system of cheap labour that characterised South Africa all the way until the end of Apartheid.

Picture: Slave Lodge museum in Cape Town, South Africa viewed from the intersection of Spin Street and Kerk/Parliament Street

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The KZN Museum honours the South African Indian community in a gallery that celebrates its rich and diverse Indian culture. The gallery tells the story from 1860 to date, celebrating the immense contributions made by the South African Indian community to our diverse and beautiful rainbow nation. Between November 1860 and 1911 (when the system of indentured labour was stopped) nearly 152000 indentured labourers from across India arrived in Natal. After serving their indentures, the first category of Indians were free to remain in South Africa or to return to India. #proudlysa