In July 1825, King Shaka, son of Senzangakhona and Nandi, who was the king of the Zulus from 1816, established a royal settlement as a halfway station between the Zulus and the settler's of Port Natal [Durban]. The huge settlement was known as kwaDukuza, it consisted of some 2000 beehive huts. On the 22nd September 1828, Shaka was killed by his two half brothers, Dingane and Mhlangane and his servant, Mbhopa. A memorial stone was erected over his burial chamber in 1932 by the Zulu nation and declared a national monument on 29 June 1938.
The Town of Stanger was established on the old Dukza site in 1872 and named after the first Surveyor General of Natal, Dr William Stanger, on the 10 February 1873. Stanger Village was granted Township status in 1920 and Borough status in July 1949.