Nongoma – With calm seemingly having returned to the Zulu monarchy after days of tension and heated exchanges, the EFF has told politicians not to exploit the situation.
Speaking outside Khangelamankengane Palace in Nongoma on Wednesday, after coming to mourn the passing of Queen Regent Mantfombi Dlamini Zulu, who passed on last week while receiving medical care in Johannesburg, the party’s secretary-general Marshall Dlamini said the royal court would eventually overcome the challenges.
Dlamini was referring to the spat between royals led by Princess Thembi Zulu-Ndlovu and Prince Mbonisi. They are up against other royals led by Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the king and Zulu nation’s traditional prime minister.
To a lesser extent, the fight between the two groups is over the vacant Zulu throne and who should act on it.
Dlamini stressed that it was not the first time the royal court encountered such challenges and it always emerged triumphant against all odds.
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“The Zulu family has been leading the Zulu nation for a long time. So our message as the EFF regarding this is that the public should give the royal house space to resolve this matter. We have faith in them since they have led the Zulu nation for the longest time and they would resolve these challenges without the interference of us as politicians.
“This is a principled family which is well versed in culture and knows how to resolve internal issues of the family. Basically, as the EFF we are saying they know that the Zulu monarch is not for them only but the entire Zulu nation. As such, it is paramount that after everything they have to resolve these. We are hopeful they would do that as they have done before,” Dlamini said.
Speaking to the media outside the palace, Inkosi Phathisizwe Chiliza of the Mdunge-Chiliza clan near Port Shepstone and the chairperson of the KZN House of Traditional Leaders pleaded for calm in the royal house.
“We all know that the recently departed king was a man of peace, so even during this period, we plead with our people in hostels and everywhere to be patient… We believe that things are not that bad, our monarch has an amazing skill to ensure that issues like this one are handled with care,” Chiliza said.
All the mourning took place while the royal court was waiting for a delegation of royals from the Eswatini monarch, where the late queen came from in the early ’70s, and regiments to bring back the body of the queen from Johannesburg.
The body was expected to land in Nongoma at about 5pm and a burial to take place at dawn on Thursday.
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
Political Bureau