Battle for Zulu crown rages as royal family members clash over King's choice of prime minister

Traditional Zulu prime minister Thulasizwe Buthelezi. (Photo: Jabulani Langa / Daily Sun)

By Chris Makhaye

11 Feb 2024

The saga about whether is really the king of the Zulu nation continues. In the latest instalment, his choice of successor for the late Mangosuthu Buthelezi is in the firing line.

The High Court in Pietermaritzburg will on Tuesday, 13 February, hear an application by the late Zulu king’s siblings and other members of the royal family to set aside King Misuzulu kaZwelithini’s recent appointment of Thulasizwe Buthelezi as prime minister of the Zulu kingdom.

They also want to interdict Misuzulu from receiving payments and other benefits, including legal fees, from the Ingonyama Trust until court cases about his appointment as king have been finalised.

This case opens a new front in the complex and long-running battle for the Zulu crown, which has been raging since the death of King Goodwill Zwelithini in March 2021.

There are six court proceedings involving succession in the Zulu kingdom as well as its assets, such as palaces, land, farms, livestock, bank accounts and investments.

Some of these cases are aimed at unseating Misuzulu or challenging his legitimacy. In December in the Gauteng Division of the High Court in Pretoria, Judge Norman Davis ruled that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recognition of Misuzulu was unlawful and invalid. This was because the process that led to his becoming king was flawed and had nothing to do with who is or should be the king, the judge said.

Ramaphosa has been granted permission to take the decision to the Supreme Court of Appeal.

Two weeks ago, at the 145th anniversary of the Battle of Isandlwana, when Zulu warriors defeated the British army, Misuzulu announced Buthelezi’s appointment as prime minister. Appointing a political figure – Buthelezi is a high-ranking IFP central committee member and mayor of the Zululand District Municipality – to such a powerful position raised eyebrows.

Our duty and obligation as the Zulu royal family is to protect the integrity of everything that is part of the heritage of the Zulu nation.

Phathisizwe Chiliza was announced as the deputy prime minister at the same event.

Mkhulu Nsingiza, a spokesperson for the royal family members who lodged the latest court application, said they had no option but to approach the courts.

“The sham appointments undermine an existing court process. The fact remains the court rendered invalid and unlawful the certification of Prince Misuzulu by President Ramaphosa ... Our duty and obligation as the Zulu royal family is to protect the integrity of everything that is part of the heritage of the Zulu nation. We remain steadfast and will follow every possible civic, legal and/or traditional avenue to resolve all pending matters towards ensuring that we unite the Zulu royal family.”

Barnabas Xulu, one of the litigants’ lawyers, said: “We want the court to set aside the appointments of Buthelezi and Chiliza and to interdict King Misuzulu from taking any action or accessing benefits and payments from the Ingonyama Trust until all the matters in courts have been finalised.

“We have established that despite all the other court proceedings, King Misuzulu continues to derive benefits. We have also established that more than R7-million from the trust was used to pay his legal fees. We believe we have a very solid and strong case and the court will rule in our clients’ favour,” Barnabas Xulu said.

Several attempts to get a comment from Africa Zulu, the king’s official spokesperson, were unsuccessful.

Political statement

King Misuzulu KaZwelithini’s choice of Thulasizwe Buthelezi, a senior IFP member, as his prime minister is viewed by commentators as showing political bias. (Photo: Jabulani Langa/Daily Sun)

Professor Musa Xulu, an academic and commentator on political and traditional affairs, who is based in KwaZulu-Natal, said it was widely expected that the king would appoint an apolitical person to the position of prime minister, even though it’s his prerogative to choose whom he wants.

“The mixing of the position of traditional prime minister with the politics of Zuluness as expounded by the IFP did compromise the stature of the Zulu kingdom. It was hoped by many that the new king would be sensitive to this and seek to appoint someone with no obvious political bias.

“However, the king went ahead and appointed Buthelezi of the IFP. By so doing, the king has chosen a political side in a politically highly contested province.”

In his first media briefing as prime minister on 5 February, Buthelezi said Misuzulu would begin a process to remove the Ingonyama Trust, the custodian of 2.8 million hectares of communal land in the province, from the oversight of the national Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.

Instead, he said, its finances and assets would be run by the king and the amakhosi (chiefs) under him on behalf of the Zulu nation. Buthelezi said they had the capacity to run the trust’s affairs and there was no need for “a minister sitting in Cape Town” to administer it.

Prof Xulu said it was “unsurprising” that Buthelezi had made such a controversial political statement. “If the Ingonyama Trust Land Act is repealed, the land under it will return to the national government.

“The danger is that this will leave rural area communities and amakhosi with nothing but virtual land rights. The hope of this statement is that Buthelezi wants to get the sympathy of amakhosi, who will see the IFP as people who want to restore land to them from the national government, who wants to take it away,” Prof Xulu said.

In December 2020, a group of mostly women took the Ingonyama Trust to court, saying they were tricked into signing leases to live on their ancestral land. In June 2021, KwaZulu-Natal Deputy Judge President Isaac Madondo delivered a ruling stating that the actions of the trust were illegal. He said it should refund the women the money it had taken from them and restore their full rights to their ancestral land.

The judgment was greeted with relief and jubilation, not only by the applicants and their co-applicants – the Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution (Casac) and the Rural Women’s Movement – but also by the millions of people who live on ancestral land administered by the trust’s board.

The trust’s land comprises 29% of KwaZulu-Natal, and the income from mining royalties and lease agreements with government departments and private businesses is collected by the king, its sole trustee, and its board. The trust also receives an annual budget from the Land Reform and Rural Development Department, and its board is subject to government oversight mechanisms. Any change in its administration would require a constitutional amendment.

Lawson Naidoo, Casac’s executive secretary, said any developments around the trust would be watched with keen interest.

“If the statement by Buthelezi is true, it means that he and the king have a misunderstanding of what the law says about the Ingonyama Trust. The law says the trust’s board must fully account to Parliament, which has raised a number of concerns in recent years about how the trust has been handling some of the issues, including its finances,” he said.

Meanwhile, despite all the legal challenges facing him, Misuzulu continues to wield power and carry out his official duties.

On 22 February, he is due to officially open the KwaZulu-Natal legislature – a long-standing tradition – where he will deliver an address to its members and invited guests and dignitaries.

Speaker Nontembeko Boyce said the KwaZulu-Natal legislature would not get involved in court disputes involving the Zulu kingdom. “In line with the relevant legal prescripts, during the course of these legal processes, King Misuzulu remains the legally recognised king. This being the case, the legislature must accord him the privilege of addressing the legislature at its opening ...

“The position of the legislature is that it has and always [will] maintain a position of objectivity and impartiality. It will abide by the decision of the courts and will recognise the legally recognised king,” Boyce said. DM

This article first appeared in our weekly Daily Maverick newspaper, DM168, which is available countrywide for R29.

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