Eshowe – A long-standing dispute over the chieftaincy of the Nzuza clan in Eshowe led to a crippling shutdown in the northern part of KwaZulu-Natal on Thursday that led to school closures.
The dispute is over who should succeed the late Inkosi Muntakafi Themba Nzuza of the Nzuza clan, which derives some royalties from commercial sugar cane and timber farming under its jurisdiction.
Two names have been put up by the warring factions within the royal house of the area. One of them is Mxolisi Nzuza. Challenging him is an unnamed son of the late Inkosi whom he fathered with a woman who is a local police officer, but they were never married.
According to documented information that was leaked to the Daily News last year, officials from the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) in the province, had tried to resolve the matter, but their efforts drew suspicion.
The officials were accused of taking sides, and were reported to their employer in Pietermaritzburg, but no action has been taken against them.
“Please contact me about the conflicts in the Nzuza Royal House at Gingindlovu after the passing of Inkosi Muntukafi Themba Nzuza. The situation is very hot since some elderly members of the other houses are hijacking the rightfulness of the processes of the throne. Three letters were written to Cogta but officials appear to be taking sides and dividing the royal houses,” wrote a community member who alerted the Daily News to the matter in August last year.
Yesterday the matter took another turn when angry community members blocked the R66 that connects towns such as Gingindlovu, Eshowe, Nkandla, Melmoth, Ulundi, Nongoma, Vryheid and Pongola.
NEWS: Protesters from the local Nzuza clan have blocked the R66 connecting towns like Gingindlovu, Eshowe, Melmoth. The protestors are demanding that COGTA speeds up the installation of one Mxolisi Nzuza as Inkosi and the acting one be removed from the throne. @DailyNewsSA pic.twitter.com/Y8AjxWVMiE
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) June 2, 2022
Blocking the road with burning tyres and logs, the protesters demanded that Cogta MEC Sipho Hlomuka issue a certificate of recognition of Mxolisi Nzuza as the next Inkosi.
Asking not to be named, one community member said the protest disrupted pension payouts as some elders were prevented from going to pay points.
“Not all of us believe that this matter could be resolved with a protest, I believe that this is a matter of the Nzuza royal house to resolve, not all of us. Look at the situation now, our elders could not go to town to get their monthly pension, I could not go to town, this is bad,” the community member said.
A teacher in one of the local schools along the R66 told the Daily News that some of her pupils were due to write exams, but missed them due to the protest.
“I was expecting my learners to come for an exam paper, but they could not come because of this protest,” the teacher said.
The spokesperson of Cogta in KwaZulu-Natal, Senzelwe Mzila, dismissed allegations by some members of the family that their officials had been bribed to sway the local throne in favour of one of the two contenders.
He said Hlomuka would visit the area on Friday to meet the Nzuza family over the matter.
“The MEC is meeting with the family tomorrow near Gingindlovu. The allegations against the department officials are not true,” Mzila said.
Efforts to speak to the warring factions within the royal family failed as the road to the royal kraal was blocked for the better of the day.
Daily News