Senior Zulu prince Philemon Zulu has appealed to President Cyril Ramaphosa to intervene in the infighting that is tearing the Zulu royal family apart.
“I am pleading with President Cyril Ramaphosa to meet with the royal family, as you can see and know, the royal house is divided, it’s not united,” the prince said on Saturday at the funeral service of IFP founder Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who was traditional prime minister of the Zulu nation.
The succession of King Misuzulu kaZwelithini to the throne last year following the death of his father, King Goodwill Zwelithini, was fiercely contested by other members of the royal family.
Prince Philemon, who described Buthelezi as a “pillar of the Zulu nation”, also complained about the way the government was handling matters involving the monarchy and amakhosi — tribal leaders — in the province.
“Please help, Matamela [Ramaphosa], there is something that the ANC government is doing … This thing was started by educated people from the Zulu nation,” he said, referring to the way traditional leaders are now appointed.
We are asking the Zulu nation to remember that everything was started by amakhosi. The problem is this black government
— Prince Philemon Zulu
“When you put into law how amakhosi are appointed, they [the government] did not go to the royal household, they went to the Cogta [co-operative governance & traditional affairs] department. Ingonyama Umdlokovana [the late king] died crying about the divisions among amakhosi.
“We are asking the Zulu nation to remember that everything was started by amakhosi. The problem is this black government, these killings and jostling for power has come as a result,” the prince said.
“The English never touched amakhosi. Please can they come back together with amakhosi and take over the land that God gave to [the Zulu nation], which was formed by King Shaka.”
Delivering a tribute to Buthelezi on behalf of King Misuzulu, Prince Philemon said: “I am in pain, [Buthelezi] is my cousin, he fought for the Zulu nation until he died.”
Delivering his eulogy, Ramaphosa stayed clear of the tensions within the royal family, saying Buthelezi had been a man of peace.
Tensions between Buthelezi and King Misuzulu played out this week following the IFP leader’s death last Saturday. Just two days after he died, aged 95, his daughter Princess Phumzile Buthelezi blamed tensions in the royal family for having made her father ill.
Princess Phumzile’s brother, Prince Zuzifa Buthelezi, said at the funeral yesterday one of the priests who visited his father on his death bed had asked what bothered him most.
“He said the first thing that concerned him was what is going on in the royal family and the second thing was the failure, maybe on both sides, of the ANC and the IFP to reach a reconciliation.”
Earlier this week Princess Phumzile told members of the extended family that her father had spoken of feeling depressed because of the tensions between him and King Misuzulu.
“My father was a person who always spoke the truth and said, ‘If I can just take off my shirt you can see how thin I am because of what Misuzulu is doing to me. I can’t sleep, I can’t eat. I had asked that he must go to rehab before ascending to the throne, but his uncle advised otherwise.’
“So, in the main, what killed my father is what is happening in the royal family. He said, ‘Even the late king has never spoken the way King Misuzulu spoke to me’ … So, my father had been sick because of what is happening in the royal family.”
At the centre of the feud between Buthelezi and the king was the administration of the Ingonyama Trust, particularly the appointment of Thanduyise Mzimela as chair of the board to replace the incumbent Jerome Ngwenya — something Buthelezi did not accept.
During interviews before his death, Buthelezi often said he was “worried” about the Ingonyama Trust issue.
“It’s not true that I am insisting that he reappoint the honourable Jerome Ngwenya, the ex-judge, but I say that it is tragic that after working for the Ingonyama Trust board, he [Ngwenya] should just vanish like that, untidily,” Buthelezi said in one interview.
Buthelezi said of the king: “There are cases where he has disappointed me.”
He was also upset about a meeting with King Misuzulu at which he said the monarch had banged on the table while talking to him.
A source close to King Misuzulu said the king was “pained” by the accusations that his conduct could have led to Buthelezi’s hospitalisation.
The king denies that he banged tables, that never happened. In fact, every time this is said, he gets mad
— Source close to King Misuzulu
“The king denies that he banged tables, that never happened. In fact, every time this is said, he gets mad,” the source said.
“There was a meeting where the discussion was around the appointment of the Ingonyama Trust, and umtwana [Buthelezi] was displaying his displeasure at the appointment of the new chairperson of the board.”
The source said that during the meeting “umtwana was basically instructing, not suggesting, the king remove his preferred chair and put back Jerome Ngwenya. The king did not want to answer to that and this is where the king stood up and left.”
Thereafter the king agreed to reinstate Ngwenya.
Another bone of contention between the two was that the king fired the lawyers handling the dispute within the royal family court over who should succeed King Zwelithini.
The Sunday Times understands that King Misuzulu plans to release a statement today paying tribute to Buthelezi.
While it is not yet clear who the king will choose to be his next right-hand man, cultural expert professor Musa Xulu said the position of traditional prime minister is not hereditary.
“The king will appoint whomever he wishes. However, such a person must be acceptable to the structures of the Zulu kingdom, especially amakhosi and the warriors,” he said.
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