My constituency is KwaZulu Natal, home to the (now) city of Durban, where Cecil Rhodes was sent to convalesce on his brother’s farm in September 1870. For me, home is not a building or a place in the abstract. It is a feeling: warmth, delight, comfort, noise, sunlight, family, and the freedom to be wholly oneself.”
The photograph of my niece, taken in Durban in the middle of winter, is what home should be. She is laughing, suspended in water and sunlight, entirely at ease. To me, she embodies home: unabashed joy, immersion, belonging, and the sense that Durban wraps itself around you like a hug.
The image also captures something essential about Durban itself. Even in winter, there is warmth, brightness and abundance. Durban is a city that feels alive and generous, where the sea, the light and the lushness seem to seep into everyday life.