In June 2004, Isolezwe launched their online edition; their fellow Independent News & Media publications described it as the first Zulu-language news website. In the five years after its founding, it performed much better than Independent’s English-language South African dailies, growing from a circulation of under 30,000 to more than 95,000, according to Audit Bureau of Circulations figures. Much of their circulation consists of single-copy sales rather than subscriptions. It continued its strong performance in the first quarter of 2010, with a 34% increase in circulation to 104,481, as compared to industry-wide 2.3% drop in sales. Circulation for their Sunday edition, Isolezwe ngeSonto, also reached 71,219. Paper insiders disagreed on the reasons for the growth; editor-in-chief Mbathi credited human-interest stories and local news, while joint managing director Brian Porter mentioned editorial content and sports as “vital ingredients”.

Do you remember the day when you heard the news on the radio that ‘a legend of Maskandi music, Mgqumeni Khumalo has resurrected from the deceased?’

Yes you remember. You were surprised and shocked at the same time. You did not believe it was true. You went to a Spaza shop and bought Isolezwe newspaper, to satisfy your eyes with his pictures which were in the front page. The photographer of the pictures was far away from the person he photographed; so you were not sure whether it was really Mgqumeni or not. You flipped through the pages to a full story on page five. You read the full story. Towards the end it was written that the next day all people were going Nqutu to see their darling musician!

You, as an avid follower of this musician when he was still alive you packed your backpack and you were ready for the trip. With hope you went to your employer and told him you did not feel well, you needed a week off work. Fortunately he gave you consent. Your heart galloped like a horse on a racing course, filled with happiness and delight. On your way home you passed by your pal in the neighbourhood, Vusumuzi Mangena.

Early in the morning, before dawn you and Vusi at Vosloorus, you climbed on a taxi to Nqutu. It did not take more than twenty minutes for a taxi to pile up, like any other ordinary days. Today, all the people, even those that did not support or listen to Maskandi were heading to Nqutu. Who would not like to see Lazarus? And he had been on a grave for two years now. Soon the taxi departed. You passed Standerton and Volkrust, those are the cities you noticed. Past Volkrust you were ‘Welcome[d] to Newcastle Municipality’, the north of KZN. The clocks were ticking nine. You thought you were closer to Nqutu, a friend had told you it is just next to Newcastle. But the taxi passed Newcastle and travelled for an hour. You could not wait. And you were afraid you would find people packed up to a point that you would be far away from Mgqumeni and not see him. How disappointing that would have been to you!

But then your face brightened up when you saw a board written ‘Encome Blood River.’ You knew you were in Nqutu. Encome. This was where the Zulus, under the leadership of Dingane, were gunned down by the Afrikaners, led by Andries Pretorius. Dingane’s impi was on one side of the river. On the other side were the Afrikaners with gun powder. As you may know Zulus impi used spears as their weapons and so they had to come closer to a person before they could kill me. But with a gun you just send a messenger which runs faster than an aeroplane, to the flesh then a person falls to the ground visiting his ancestors forever. So when the Zulus tried to cross the river to the other side, Afrikaners sent their messengers—the gun powder. Zulus did not make it to the other side of the river but died in water leaving it flow red. More than three thousand Zulus were wounded and killed, and only three injured from the Voortrekkers side. After that incident the name, ‘Blood River’ was conceived. It is a gloomy story to narrate but true, the Zulus impi was warded off there. Their blood flowed like a river.