KwaZulu Natal is also the cradle of the Zulu nation, where our great kings lived victoriously and died honourably. The Zulu tradition of passing the history of its nation from the mouths of the forefathers to the hearts of the children, is long based on the notion that when we know where we have been, we will know where we are going. As a new millennium unfolds, I believe that this tradition retains its value. South Africa is building a new country and forming a new people, and we are starting from a foundation which was laid on the ashes of apartheid. I believe that a new country must search for and find new cultural paradigms and that this is particularly true in respect of history and historiography.
Historiography is somehow more important than history itself.
It embodies the culture of an age by determining how we look at, read and assess the otherwise incomprehensible objective facts of the past. Historiography changes the assessment of past events from right to wrong and then back to right again, to adjust to the sensibility and ideology of the present. We need to be particularly attentive in developing a genuine South African historiography which expands, rather than limits, our cultural horizons and our in-depth understanding of historical events. As we form new paradigms, the temptation always exists to create dogma and, even at this juncture of transformation, relativism remains the preferred option for prudence and pragmatism. What is important is that both our history and historiography illuminate and give value to the history of all our people, to be read within their own context, cultural paradigms and historiographic frames of reference.