Two days before the coronation of Prince Misuzulu ka Zwelithini as Zulu monarch on Saturday, Prince Mathubesizwe Zulu — the brother of the late king Zwelithini — announced that Prince Buzabazi ka Zwelithini had been chosen by the late king's siblings as the next king of the Zulu nation.
Buzabazi is the fourth son of the late king with Queen Buhle kaMathe, the late king’s second wife.
At a media briefing in Johannesburg on Thursday, Prince Mathubesizwe ka Bhekuzulu said only the remaining king’s four brothers and sister had the right to decide who should be king of the Zulus.
He said the prince they have chosen cannot address the nation before rituals are performed to prepare him to be king.
The briefing was meant to deal with the “thorny issue” of succession in the Zulu kingdom and also to introduce the “real” heir apparent of the Zulu nation for the first time to the public.
Last Saturday, some members of the Zulu royal family held two ceremonies before the last stage of the process that would certify Prince Simakade as Zulu king.
The first was a ritual to separate amabutho from the late king’s spirit — amabutho belong to the late king until the ceremony has taken place. The second was the cleansing of the throne before a new king sits.
Zulu prime minister Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi called the event illegal and a “foolish provocation”.
Misuzulu was formally recognised as the Zulu king by President Cyril Ramaphosa in March.
Another of the late king's brothers, Prince Mbonisi, lodged an urgent court application last month to stop Misuzulu’s coronation but this was struck off the roll.
In the briefing on Thursday, Prince Mathubesizwe said the remaining siblings of the late king were the most important members of the royal family and they had been ignored.
“You can look at them and look down upon them. Never underestimate them. We are members of the ruling family. No-one else. We might be a smaller number but our main position is to handle the royal family matters. We understand there are elders who claim they know almost everything,” Mathubesizwe said.
When asked why Prince Buzabazi was chosen, Prince Mbonisi said it was because of the work Buzabazi had done with the late king.
“He is the prince who likes family, who is humble and has worked the longest with the king. I can count the number of things he did with the king, some of which were secret. What is important is the love for family,” Mbonisi said.
Another of the late king's brothers, Prince Vulindlela, said in addition to Prince Mbonisi and Prince Mathubesizwe and himself, two of the late king’s remaining siblings, Prince Mxolisi and Princess Lindiwe, were the only ones supposed to perform the rituals of the family, including taking the king’s son into the kraal.
“We are concerned about this thing. People are diverting the culture,” Vulindlela said.
Vulindlela said the people who are expected to perform rituals to mark the coronation of the king at the weekend should not do that.
“They are only relatives. They are not blood people of the king. Our children are entering the kraal. No-one must take the king’s son to the kraal except us,” Vulindlela said.
Vulindlela said the events of last week had taken place without their consent.
“If we were not related to them, we could even report them to the police because they are trespassing there. We are concerned about what happened last weekend,” he said. “We hear it is going to happen again this weekend, done by the wrong people.”
Vulindlela said “what these people were doing” was a mistake.
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