Dududu is a small rural area situated in the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal Province in South Africa. It is also referred to as Zembeni by locals.
Dududu falls within the uMdoni Local Municipality, which is part of the Ugu District Municipality.
The Dududu area is primarily used for agriculture, i.e., the sugarcane plantations by the Illovo Sugar company.
Dududu and its surrounding areas are still very rural and mostly underdeveloped valleys. The locals of Dududu and the surrounding areas are still ruled by the chiefs, whereas in Dududu, it is Chief Mqadi.
History
Dududu became infamous in the late ’90s during the South African political battles that occurred after the country’s first Democratic Elections. The battles spanned all over the country, and Dududu was one of those places that were massacred, due to the rivalry between the biggest parties at that time, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the African National Congress (ANC), to govern the country.
In 2015, Dududu was in the news again when over a hundred bodies were found in what was identified as mass graves at Glenroy Farm, one of two large farms in the area, the other being Cedars Farm. Former workers have since come forward and claimed that the bodies are of those who were bought as prisoners from Durban Central Prison to work on the farm by the owners during the Apartheid regime, and they died of various diseases and other natural causes, contrary to people’s assumptions.
