Durban – There are fresh ructions in the Zulu monarch after Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi was suspiciously excluded from Thursday’s official programme of Deputy President David Mabuza’s visit to King Misuzulu in Nongoma, northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Mabuza is meeting with the king as part of advance preparation for the coronation at Moses Mabhida stadium.
Initially, Buthelezi, the traditional prime minister of the monarch and the Zulu nation, was excluded from the official programme for the king’s coronation on October 29, 2022 in Durban.
That exclusion was reversed after an uproar by some royal family members who felt that royal protocols were being trampled upon.
Again, Buthelezi has been excluded from the list of recommended royal council members despite his long-held traditional position.
The council has been stuffed with ANC stalwarts like former President Jacob Zuma, Mzwandile Mkhwanazi (a Durban-based Ramaphosa man), a known KZN taxi boss and Judge Isaac Madondo, to name just a few.
In his role as the traditional prime minister, Buthelezi is always on the side of the King during royal functions and he introduces the King before he speaks.
In Thursday’s programme which IOL has seen, the King would just stand up and respond to remarks made by Mabuza without having to be introduced by his prime minister as the royal protocol dictates.
The chairperson of the coronation committee, Professor Otty Nxumalo, was yet to respond to the exclusion of Buthelezi and how the royal council was constituted.
His phone rang unanswered and questions were then sent to him via SMS.
There are fears by some within the royal family that the ANC wants to hijack the coronation and use it to campaign for the 2022 elections in the wake of the IFP's good showing in the last local government elections and recent by-elections.
In the past, the ANC has accused the IFP of using the King and royal events to bolster its electoral fortunes, a charge the latter has vehemently denied and dismissed as sour grapes.
*** This is a developing story. Responses by affected parties will be included as soon as they are received.
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
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