Rubbish, effluent, putrid smell puts historic building under siege
The first Zulu language newspaper in Northern KZN was first published in 1912 in this building. Izwe la Kiti was printed by Rev Lars Norenius - whose family later also published the Courier.
The Ebenezer Press Building which is on McKenzie Street, with the words Soli Deo Gloria, 1912 on the facade, is part of Dundee’s Heritage Trail. Sadly, the building looks very neglected with piles of litter in front of the entrance and effluent running past the building, cascading down to the nearby railway line.
A putrid smell is enough to put off any would-be historian keen to learn about Dundee’s history. Residents who live nearby, who did not want to be named, said the sewer leak has been running for ‘weeks’ but could not confirm if the matter had been reported to authorities.
The Courier has since reported the leak to the Umzinyathi District Municipality.
See video here
A history of the Ebeneser building….
The first Zulu language newspaper in Northern KZN was first published in 1912 in this building. Izwe la Kiti was printed by Rev Lars Norenius – whose family later also published the Courier.
Rev Norenius was born in Sweden in 1862 and came out to South Africa as a missionary in 1888. He was first stationed at Rorke’s Drift but in 1890 came to Dundee where he was involved with the printing of mainly religious material and later helped set up a hospital. Rev Norenius passed away on June 29, 1917.
His family continued working in the printing industry and later published the Courier which they did until the early 1970s. In the Courier of September 26, 1912, an editorial mentioned that ‘Dundee folk have been on the tiptoe of expectation in connection with the promised appearance of the new weekly newspaper, Izwe la Kiti’. “There should be ample scope for a paper in their own language and we hope it may be found a practicable venture which the Native (sic) population will accord their hearty support.”
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A Mr HJK Rossler was the first editor and was said to be well versed in Zulu language and Zulu customs. In their definite essay entitled THE BLACK PRESS IN SOUTH AFRICA AND LESOTHO a descriptive bibliographic guide to African, Coloured and Indian newspapers, newsletters and magazines 1836-1976, LES SWITZER and DONNA SWITZER, gave this description: Izwe La Kiti (Our Country) 1 September 1912-June 1915 (irregular numbering) 2 weekly 3 English/Zulu Founded and published by the Lutheran mission and the Natal Missionary Conference (a co-operative Protestant missionary body founded in 1877) as ‘an inter-denominational united Christian, educational and political newspaper for the Zulu people’ (September 9, 1912). HJK Rossler (who wrote under the pseudonym ‘Sunduza’) edited the newspaper, which was published in Dundee (Ebenezer Press), Natal. Although sponsored by white missionaries, Izwe la Kiti was a protest organ which would appear to have been one of the more important vehicles for the expression of African opinion in Natal at this time.
