Some members of the Zulu royal family have expressed dissatisfaction with the African National Congress’ (ANC) motion tabled in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature that the King of the AmaZulu nation will no longer be saluted during the official opening of the legislature.
A senior member of the royal family, Prince Vincent Zulu, says the motion shows disrespect to the AmaZulu nation.
He says the salute to the King had been done for years and even the erstwhile KwaZulu-Natal government was doing it.
The King is usually saluted by a guard of honour of the police upon his arrival at the legislature. According to the ANC’s proposal, the salute is against the constitution of the country as only the premier, ministers, and the president may be saluted, not the King.
The late King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu was saluted during the opening of the legislature.
This comes after the provincial government has stopped any spending on cultural events of AmaZulu King Misuzulu ka Zwelithini until a dispute within the royal family over who should succeed the late King is resolved.
Prince Vincent Zulu recently said that the AmaZulu nation does not have a King :
ANC’s motion unacceptable
Prince Vincent Zulu says the ANC’s motion is unacceptable and will cause division within the AmaZulu nation.
“ The Zulu royal family has taken note of proposals tabled by the ANC regarding the majesty the King, it is understood that it has been refuted by the premier of the province that they seek to withdraw the tradition of saluting the majesty when he visits the KZN legislature. In addition, they seek to do away with the work done by the King to address the opening of the legislature. The royal family finds these proposals quite disconcerting and we wish to caution the premier to withdraw public expression and this will be deemed insulting the Zulu nation and will trigger unnecessary social unrest.”
The traditional Prime Minister of the AmaZulu nation, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, has also criticised the motion. Buthelezi has denied that he is provoking violence and unrest.
“Now, the say Buthelezi is threatening to cause violence and I say no. If I see clouds gathering and say the storm is going to blow, I am not going to do it myself to condense it. Even now we have had terrible unrest in the country and looting that took place and social unrest.”
Abiding by the constitution
ANC’s Chief Whip in the legislature, Supa Zuma, says the committee has discovered that the salute to the King is contrary to the constitution. Zuma says only the president of the country, ministers and the premier may be saluted.
“We have discovered that police cannot salute anybody other than the president, and we are saying the rules that it (the King’s salute) is contrary to the constitution of the country, in fact, these are rules are null and void because any rules that are contrary to the constitution of the country is null and void. We are trying to correct that the rules must be in compliance with the laws of the country.”
Zuma says it is proposed that the opening of the legislature should be a one-day event to cut costs.
“We have been engaging and trying to amend the rules of the legislature. Part of our suggestion is to say we must look at cost-cutting measures, we propose that when the speaker engages the King. He or she must also look at discussing having one day of the opening of the legislature so that we deal with the issue of cost-cutting measures, but we can’t include that in the rules as it is the matter that is administrative.”
An attack to traditional institutions
Meanwhile, Political Analyst Xolani Dube from the Xubera Institute sees the motion as an attack on traditional institutions.
“It is the evaporation of what was agreed upon and the South African natives are under-siege. You find entities like Ingonyama Trust, the Zulu royal household being challenged and being erased, and it raises some uncomfortable questions in relation to the chaos that is happening in the royal household, is it not a hidden hand or the third hand that is stirring controversy among the Zulu royal household.”
