South Africa Centre opening
On 17 May 2002 the new Africa Centre for Health and Population Studies building was officially opened in Somkhele, KwaZulu-Natal, by South Africa's Deputy State President Jacob Zuma, accompanied by other dignitaries including King Goodwill Zwelithini, King of the Zulu Nation, Dr Mweli Mkhize Minister of Health, KwaZulu-Natal, and Sir Dominic Cadbury, Chairman of the Wellcome Trust.
The Africa Centre is a research collaboration between the South African Medical Research Council, the Universities of Natal and Durban-Westville and the Wellcome Trust. It carries out a multidisciplinary programme of research reflecting population and reproductive health priorities in sub-Saharan Africa, particularly HIV/AIDS - more than a third of the community is infected with the virus.
The new building has been constructed at Somkhele, some 150 miles north of Durban. The site was donated by Menias Mkwanazi, the Inkosi (Zulu tribal chief) for the area of Mpukunyoni. Mkwanazi selected the site for its strategic positioning next door to the tribal court and on the road to the Hluhluwe Umfolozi game reserve, a popular tourist route.
Locating the Africa Centre in Somkhele signals its intention to integrate fully into the community, which was consulted at every stage of development through a 25-strong consultative committee, including the mayor and a head teacher. Moreover, when the building was in the planning stages, every member of the local community was contacted and asked if they were decorators, plasterers or bricklayers. As a result, out of 186 jobs created by the project, 117 went to local people.
