The history of the parishes in the Diocese of Eshowe
Benedictine missionaries from Emoyeni opened an outstation at Musi in 1940, just south of the Umhlatuze river near Richards Bay. When a new harbour was built in the Bay in the early seventies, the government chose an area east of Musi to start a new socalled black township. It was given the name Esikhaweni. Although many of the houses were of the notorious "match-box" type which offered very little space to families, more elaborate housing was made available for people with higher incomes. In contrast to many other black townships, all houses at Esikhaweni were provided with water and electricity, the streets were paved and street-lighting installed. Schools, shops and sporting grounds were already included in the first phase of development.
Esikhaweni had a population of about 10 000 people at the end of 1977. The number rose to 23 000 by 1980 and to about 35 000 in 1990. On October 1, 1976, the Diocese of Eshowe was allocated a church site in the town with the proviso that building activities be started within one year. Bishop Mansuet Biyase asked R.A.G. Sommerville, an architect of Empangeni, to draw up plans. Once the final plan was approved, the contract was given to O'Connell Brothers, a building firm in Empangeni. They moved onto the building site in September 1978 and finished the whole project in December 1979. The centre consists of a large church, flanked by a hall and a priest's house. Bishop Mansuet Biyase blessed the church on December 7, 1980, and dedicated it to St. Martin de Porres. The ceremony was watched by more than one thousand people.
The Martin de Porres Parish in Esikhaweni is, by South African standards, a middle-class parish. Many of its members are professional people: doctors, lawyers, teachers, nurses and artisans. It was not all that easy to shape them into a real parish community where each member feels at home and is ready to get involved. The emergence of rival political groups in the early eighties and their vying with one another for control of the township brought about an upsurge in violence. It reached its peak during the months leading up to the first general election in April 1994 when houses were burnt down and scores of people injured or killed. The climate of violence has also posed a serious threat to the spirit of unity and togetherness in the Martin de Porres parish. The situation began to improve after the general election was over.
The Esikhaweni parish had seven outstations and 2100 Catholics in 1990. Fr. Aquilin Mpanza, the first parish priest of St. Martin de Porres, looked after the Catholics in Esikhaweni for fourteen years.
Parish Priests of Esikhaweni
Assistant Priests in Esikhaweni
This page was last updated on 24.10.06 17:41:26