King Misuzulu KaZwelithini has left everyone in the Zulu kingdom and beyond guessing about his next move after he did not use the all-important commemoration of the battle of Isandlwana in Nquthu in northern KwaZulu-Natal to fill key positions. The King also steered away from speaking about his highly publicised and pending divorce. He also said nothing to clear the confusion on whether he would still marry Queen Nomzamo Myeni of Jozini as his third wife or not. However, many…

The Pietermaritzburg High Court has struck off from the roll the urgent court application by Queen Ntokozo Mayisela to have King Misuzulu KaZwelithini barred from marrying a third wife, Nomzamo Myeni.  Mayisela dashed to the court after learning through the media that the Zulu King intended to marry Myeni on January 24 and 26 this year.  She argued that the monarch would be committing an offence of bigamy as he was still legally married to her in civil rites. The…

King Misuzulu KaZwelithini has ended his almost two months of seclusion period to come and address Zulu regiments, thanking them for upholding the sacred ceremony of Ukweshwama (the first fruit). The ceremony is also used as an annual traditional Zulu prayer for a good year ahead.  It was held at the newly built Mshobeni palace in Nongoma (across the Nkunzana river from KwaKhangela palace, named after one of the old palaces of the legendary King Shaka, the founder of the…

The Portfolio Committee on Land Reform and Rural Development is seeking to meet with Zulu King, Misuzulu KaZwelithini and other stakeholders to get to the bottom of the governance paralysis engulfing the Ingonyama Trust Board in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. The committee took this resolution on Tuesday (January 14) after an impromptu meeting to address the matter. “The Portfolio Committee on Land Reform and Rural Development has, at its meeting this morning, resolved to request a meeting with King Misuzulu ka Zwelithini…

Embattled Zulu King Misuzulu KaZwelithini is facing a fresh headache after one of his wives filed court papers to interdict his upcoming marriage to his third wife, Queen Nomzamo Myeni of Jozini in northern KwaZulu-Natal.  The much anticipated royal marriage is billed for 24 and 26 January this year in Nongoma and Jozini respectively.  The wife who is seeking an interdict is the same woman King Misuzulu is divorcing. She cannot be named to protect their children as required by…

One of the six “suspended” members of the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) has resigned from the entity with immediate effect. Inkosi Mabhudu Israel Tembe, the traditional leader of the Tembe clan In UMhlabuyalingana, resigned from the board on Thursday. In a letter dated 9 January 2025 sent to Mzwanele Nyhontso, the Minister For Rural Development and Land Affairs and seen by African Times, Inkosi Tembe threw in the towel, citing personal reasons. “It is with a heavy heart that I…

King Misuzulu KaZwelithini has rejected Rural Development and Land Affairs Minister Mzwanele Nyhontsho’s assertion that he cannot suspend the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB). In a letter dated 7 January 2025, the Zulu monarch said he does have those powers and that Nyhontso is mistaken for claiming anything to the contrary.  The ITB is a South African public entity that oversees land owned by the Ingonyama Trust, established in 1994 to administer land traditionally owned by the Zulu monarchy.  The Ingonyama…

Amid a messy divorce storm engulfing the Zulu Monarchy, King Misuzulu KaZwelithini has announced a date to marry his third wife, Queen Nomzamo Myeni of Jozini in northern KwaZulu-Natal.  The King, currently embroiled in a Pietermaritzburg High Court battle to divorce one of his wives, would be officially marrying Myeni (to conclude the marriage as they are already married and living together) towards the end of this month this year. This would happen shortly after he had presided over the…

The battle for control of Ingonyama Trust in KwaZulu-Natal is heating up after King Misuzulu KaZwelithini reasserted his authority and ordered the entity’s “suspended” board members not to enter the trust’s offices in Pietermaritzburg. In a January 3 letter sent through his lawyers, Van Rensburg Kruger Rakwena Attorneys, the Zulu king instructed Advocate Linda Zama, Inkosi Mabhudu Tembe, Inkosi Phallang Molefe, Inkosi Sibonelo Mkhize, Dandy Matamela and Nomusa Zulu not to bother setting foot in the trust’s offices.  The purported…

They say old folk tend to behave like children. In recent weeks, South Africa as a nation had a front seat in this theatrical and toxic tantrum of South Africa’s oldest serving parliamentarian and nonagenarian. This soap opera of politics, draped in bitter entitlement, better understood in a tantrum, spares no one. It invokes the dead monarch against the living; it pits a monarchy against a democracy, ‘decades of experience’ at the expense of the new. It deliberately conflates the…