Durban — King Misuzulu’s office said the delay by his traditional prime minister, Inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi, to depose an affidavit in support of his appointment as the king would not jeopardise the king’s chances of being declared by the court the rightful heir to the throne.
The king’s legal team would square up against the legal team of his half-brother, Prince Simakade, in a kingship battle in Pretoria High Court next month.
The response was sparked by the announcement by Prince Simakade’s side at the weekend which said it was confident of a victory, since Inkosi Buthelezi had to date not filed his affidavit. According to Simakade’s side, King Misuzulu’s kingship hinged on the affidavit that needed to be signed by his prime minister since it relates to the royal family meeting he was chairing in 2021, where the king was announced as a successor to his late mother queen, Mantfombi Dlamini-Zulu, who had been through a will appointed as a regent.
Speaking to the Daily News on Thursday, the king’s head of Communications and Stakeholder Relations, His Royal Highness Prince Africa Zulu of Onkweni dismissed Simakade’s assertion, saying it was a misguided hope since the affidavit was just a procedural formality.
Prince Africa said it was not true that the king was appointed in a royal family meeting and that was just procedural formality, adding that if that was to be the case it would mean that the king was voted for.
He said in the history of the Zulu kingdom, the king’s appointment was mainly based on cultural and traditional grounds which was why the culture dictated that the king or Inkosi is born not elected.
Supporting his argument, the Prince said King Misuzulu was appointed on the basis that his mother had a royal blood since she was from another kingdom (Eswatini) and her lobola was paid by the Zulu nation. He added that these two key points were the ones that the judge will look at in determining who was supposed to be heir to the throne in the Zulu nation, not affidavits from people.
“No judge will decide kingship on the basis of family meetings and affidavits; otherwise you will have a shadow king who will not rule with authority because he would pay allegiance to the person who supported him by an affidavit or family members who supported him. Inkosi Buthelezi is not an eyewitness to the murder scene of some sort so that his evidence would be solely relied on by the judge. His affidavit was going to talk about what everyone knows, so with or without his testimony, nothing will change the fact King Misuzulu was born out of a princess from the Eswatini kingdom and his mother’s lobola was paid by the Zulu nation,” said Prince Africa.
Buthelezi’s spokesperson, Liezl van der Merwe, said Prince Buthelezi has never refused to sign the affidavit and had indicated his willingness to sign it as per the resolution of the amakhosi meeting on May 26.
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