He is a Zulu prince used to royal treatment. However, the treatment he alleges to have received at a Sandton hotel was anything but royal when he was kicked off the hotel premises and told never to set foot there again.
The incident, said Prince Africa Zulu, happened on Wednesday – and no explanation was given.
Zulu achieved international recognition two years ago when he took part in the BBC reality show Undercover Princes with Prince Remigius of Jaffna, Sri Lanka, and Manvendra Singh Gohil of Rajpipla in India.
One of his memorable quotes from the show included: “Women are not like wine, it’s not like the more they age, the better they get. They age quickly, so they are like milk.”
Zulu, from the Onkweni royal house, claims to have been a loyal customer at the Protea Hotel Balalaika for some time. When he was approached, while checking in, by a woman employee with a huge smile on her face, he did not suspect that anything could be amiss.
He also flashed a smile and greeted the woman. But the woman, who had approached Zulu with a colleague, told him: “By the way, we’re here to tell you we can’t have you at this hotel after that incident. That’s all I can say, and it’s orders.”
The 33-year-old said he tried to argue, asking her the reason he was not wanted at the hotel. But the women insisted, and ordered the clerk at the desk to stop checking Zulu in. He was then told to leave.
Zulu could not work out the reason for the “shabby treatment” but said it could relate to two incidents in December when he dared to challenge management. “They can’t stand a force like me in their establishment. If I see something wrong I will complain,” he said.
In the first incident, he said, he had confronted management over allegations that a woman staffer would be fired for mixing up orders. The manager was allegedly not happy about the interference and told him so. In the second incident, a complaint about having waited for a long time for service at the restaurant resulted in Zulu being escorted out by security.
Because the Balalaika has beautiful suites and is centrally located, he decided to return despite the incidents, and did not expect any problems.
This time he accused the hotel of being racist.
The managing director has, however, dismissed Zulu’s accusations. “We made a decision to practise our ‘right of admission reserved’. No way are we racist,” Jorg Zwinger said.
The hotel’s spokeswoman, Rachel Irvine, said they were not prepared to say why they had refused Zulu accommodation and had no desire to debate the matter publicly. - The Star