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Will or no will, the family has to decide who takes over as the Zulu king: Prof Bheki Mngomezulu

  • Traditional Prime Minister of the Zulu Kingdom, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi enters Kwa Khangela Royal Palace.
  • Image Credits :
  • SABC-News-ButheleziRoyalPalace-SkhangiweMthiyane
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Will or no will, the Zulu royal family has to decide on who takes over the throne. That is according to the University of Western Cape’s Professor Bheki Mngomezulu speaking to SABC News as the Pietermaritzburg High Court is hearing an urgent application to halt pre-coronation proceedings for King Misizulu Zulu KaZwelithini in Nongoma.

Mngomezulu has put blamed the confusion around the rightful heir to the kingship on the mixture of western and African traditions.

This is what you get when you mix culture that is African tradition and customs and you mix it with Western cultures. You are bound to get this kind of conflict whereby the two don’t mix. Ordinarily, whenever a king has passed on the family would then decide who the next king will be and that has nothing to do with courts and it has nothing to do with government,” says Mngomezulu.

“But then because we are living under the current political dispensation, those processes are then brought together. But we have just seen what the result is, because on the one hand you have a cultural event that is taking place and on the other hand you have a legal process that is looming and this is not supposed to be happening. Because will or no will, the reality of the matter is that the family has to decide who the next heir to the throne will be.”

University of Western Cape’s Professor Bheki Mngomezulu speaks to SABC News’s Chriselda Lewis:

The Pietermaritzburg High Court has begun hearing arguments for an urgent interdict brought by Amazulu Princesses Ntandoyenkosi Zulu and Ntombizosuthu Zulu-Duma. They have filed court papers to interdict King Misuzulu kaZwelithini’s pre-coronation ceremony, which is already underway.
Professor Bheki Mngomezulu on Ukungena Esibayeni kweSilo:
Meanwhile, the legal representative for President Cyril Ramaphosa Advocate Marumo Moerane has argued there is no urgency in this application. He says it is self-created urgency on the part of the applicants.
Moerane has asked the court to dismiss the matter with costs.
He further told the court that Ramaphosa was not properly served, but only made aware of the interdict via a third party.

Thousands of people from different parts of the country and neighouring countries have descended to Nongoma in northern KwaZulu-Natal for the pre-coronation rituals of AmaZulu King MisuZulu kaZwelithini. This comes as an urgent application for an interdict to halt the rituals is being heard in the Pietermaritzburg High Court.

The urgent application has been filled by the two princesses.

Several AmaZulu regiments are singing traditional songs in the Palace precinct. The meaning of some of these songs is about the ongoing battle surrounding the succession debate.

Despite today’s urgent court application, sacred pre-coronation rituals for King MisuZulu kaZwelithini are ongoing.

An official programme meant to deliver well wishes to the new Monarch is still expected later today.

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