Assagay, also spelt Assegay, is a suburb of eThekwini in

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN) is a Provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the government merged the Zulu people, Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu language, Zulu) and ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

and forms a part of the Upper Highway Area.

History

Assagay was formerly a small local authority on the outskirts of

Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...

adjacent to its sister village of Hillcrest and has now effectively become part of that booming suburb of Durban. Assagay lost its independent Health Committee status in 1996, i.e. after the 1994 fully democratic elections, and was made subject to administration by the Outer West Local Council - a substructure council of the then Durban Unicity. Subsequently in 2000 this body, i.e. the Outer West Local Council, along with other local councils, were disestablished and replaced by the single eThekwini Municipality encompassing the entire Durban metropolitan area.

Assagay today

Assagay has access to both the M13 and N3 freeway systems linking it directly with Durban and

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; ) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa after Durban. It was named in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. The town was named in Zulu after King ...

, and Kassier Road links it via Old Main Road to the central commercial area of Hillcrest. The suburb of Assagay had become known as a middle-income residential area containing a mixture of individual houses, small holdings and small town house complexes; however the considerable development in the greater Hillcrest area, over the past 10 years, has tended to change this image of the area. Large secure gated estates such as Queensbridge, Silver Oaks, Highmead and the nearby Aintree Lane residential development at Shongweni surrounding the Assagay Hotel (previously known as the Polo Pony Hotel) have seen the character change to more of a high-income area. The PheZulu Safari Park and the currently developing Stoneford Equestrian Estate is in Assagay and borders on Alverstone which is situated on the plateau of that name. The new Hillcrest Private Hospital which is now operational and a Retirement Village which is under construction has easy access to the M13. These developments have further boosted the property values in this up-market area. International Polo (sponsored by

BMW Bayerische Motoren Werke AG, trading as BMW Group (commonly abbreviated to BMW (), sometimes anglicised as Bavarian Motor Works), is a German multinational manufacturer of vehicles and motorcycles headquartered in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Th ...

) is played to the Shongweni Polo Ground opposite the Assagay Hotel.

Conservation and the environment

The Assagay valley forms the original catchment area of the Umhlatuzana river which flows through the Madwala Reserves. Working for Water has made a contribution towards clearing the area of invasive plants and continues to eradicate all alien flora with the cooperation of landowners.

Origin of name

Assagay is perhaps more commonly spelled as "

assegai An assegai or assagai is a polearm used for throwing, usually a light spear or javelin made up of a wooden handle with an iron tip. Area of use The use of various types of the assegai was widespread all over Africa and it was the most common we ...

". The name for the village of Assagay will have in turn been taken from the underlying farm named Assagay Kraal. The Voortrekkers having named the early farms in their

Natalia Republic The Natalia Republic was a short-lived Boer republic founded in 1839 after a Voortrekker victory against the Zulus at the Battle of Blood River. The area was previously named ''Natália'' by Portuguese sailors, due to its discovery on Christm ...

(Natal) after settling throughout the area in 1839 after defeating the Zulu king

Dingane Dingane ka Senzangakhona Zulu (–29 January 1840), commonly referred to as Dingane, Dingarn or Dingaan, was a Zulu prince who became king of the Zulu Kingdom in 1828, after assassinating his half-brother Shaka Zulu. He set up his royal capita ...

. The parcels of land comprising the adjacent

Alverstone Alverstone is a village 2 miles from the east coast of the Isle of Wight, near Sandown. The name Alverstone is most likely of Saxon origin meaning "Alfred's Farm". Up until 1960, boating took place on the river and tea-gardens were very popula ...

area are still portions of the farm Assagay Kraal No 853.

References

{{eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality Populated places in eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality