
In South Africa, a new Zulu king was declared amid confusion after members of the royal family challenged Prince Misuzulu Zulu’s claim to the throne following his father’s death, and his bodyguards whisked him away from the public announcement at a palace.
Following the death in March of King Goodwill Zwelithini, who had reigned since 1968, a dispute emerged over the next king, a largely ceremonial position.
At the age of 72, King Zwelithini, who suffered from diabetes, died of a COVID-19-related disease.
According to local media reports,following the dramatic events of Friday evening, senior princes and princesses have pledged their allegiance to new Zulu King Prince Misuzulu.Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the traditional Prime Minister of the Zulu nation and monarch, said that following the royal family meeting, even Prince Mbonisi and Princess Thembi pledged their allegiance to the new King.
Experts say, under the South African political system, the Zulu king has no executive power, but he has moral authority over more than 11 million Zulus, about a fifth of the country’s population.
Queen Mantfombi Dlamini Zulu has proposed that her eldest son, Prince Misuzulu Zulu, be chosen as the next King of the Zulu nation in her last will and testament.
After the announcement that the late Zulu regent Queen Mantfombi Dlamini Zulu preferred her son Prince Misuzulu Zulu to succeed the late AmaZulu King Goodwill Zwelithini to the throne, tense scenes unfolded at the Khangelamankengane royal palace in Nongoma in Northern KwaZulu-Natal.











