JOHANNESBURG (AP) – The traditional leader of South Africa’s 12 million Zulus, King Goodwill Zwelithini, was buried in a private ceremony on Thursday morning.
Zwelithini, 72, died of diabetes-related health problems last Friday and was buried in a traditional ceremony known as “ukutshalwa kweNkosi”, which is attended only by elderly men in the royal family, many wearing leopard skins and colorful zulu costumes.
Reigning for more than 50 years, Zwelithini was the oldest monarch in the Zulu nation, the largest ethnic group of South Africa’s 60 million inhabitants. The province of KwaZulu-Natal is home to the majority of the country’s Zulu.
Historically, the Zulu nation gave early resistance to British colonialism under the leadership of King Shaka Zulu from 1816 to 1828.
Zwelithini was an advocate of traditional Zulu customs and the most influential of traditional South African leaders, who do not hold political office, but have considerable influence, especially among rural people in South Africa. He is credited with speaking openly to encourage public education to control the HIV / AIDS epidemic that was sweeping South Africa in the 1980s and 1990s.
After Zwelithini’s funeral, President Cyril Ramaphosa was among the speakers at a memorial service that praised the king.
“It was during his reign that the Zulu nation achieved harmony and peace. It was during his reign that his people, alongside all the people of our country, fulfilled the dream of liberating them from the injustices of colonialism and apartheid, ”said Ramaphosa.
Other participants in the memorial included former President Jacob Zuma, who is Zulu, and Princess Charlene of Monaco, who is from South Africa.
Zwelithini was praised for his role in helping to end the political violence that engulfed KwaZulu-Natal province before South Africa’s first democratic elections in 1994. He is credited with encouraging Zulus to participate in the elections and calling on him not to stand. involved in violent attacks across the country.
Zwelithini’s legacy, however, did not go unchallenged and the royal house this week threatened to take legal action against the City Press for publishing a strong opinion about the king’s government.
In the article, City Press editor-in-chief Mondli Makhanya accused Zwelithini of being a puppet of South Africa’s former white minority apartheid regime before the transition to democracy.
Makhanya claimed that Zwelithini was responsible for many deaths because he collaborated with the apartheid regime and the leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, in his quest to create an independent Zulu state and to reject democratic reforms.
The Zulu royal family issued a statement condemning Makhanya’s claims as “vulgar lies” and said it would “take the necessary steps once the mourning is over”.
The royal family will meet to determine who will succeed Zwelithini.