Zulu King Misuzulu’s love life shocks South Africa as he opts for divorce

The love lifetime of South Africa’s Zulu king has the nation agog – and has scandalised his socially conservative topics as he messes with custom by in search of a divorce.

Polygamy is a part of Zulu tradition, however King Misuzulu kaZwelithini has taken the weird step of going to courtroom to divorce his first spouse, Queen Ntokozo kaMayisela.

“Everybody was puzzled. Folks weren’t anticipating the king to go as far as to file for divorce,” Prof Gugu Mazibuko, a cultural professional at South Africa’s College of Johannesburg, advised the RAYNAE.

“In Zulu tradition, there is no such thing as a divorce. You aren’t alleged to ward off your spouse,” she mentioned.

Thought to be the “lion of the nation”, the Zulu king is the custodian of age-old traditions that place marriage and polygamy on the coronary heart of royal success.

His position inside South Africa might solely be ceremonial, however he stays massively influential, with a yearly government-funded funds of a number of million {dollars}.

The monarch – who grew up in neighbouring Eswatini, studied within the US and got here to the throne in 2021 – appears to courtroom controversy.

His coronation was challenged in courtroom by his elder half-brother, who has been making an attempt to grab the crown from him.

His second marriage seems to be shaky, his try and take a 3rd spouse hit the buffers and there are additionally studies of one other dalliance with a younger princess.

Nonetheless, the 50-year-old’s troubled private life was once mentioned in hushed tones – that’s till he filed divorce papers in December.

Prof Mazibuko acknowledged one Zulu monarch within the twentieth Century had divorced one in all his queens, but it surely had been a “prime royal secret”, given royal divorce just isn’t the norm.

“If a wedding doesn’t work out, the spouse will nonetheless dwell within the king’s homestead. She will likely be given her personal house. She won’t have a relationship with the king, however she and her kids will likely be well-cared for.”

It was simply earlier than his accession to the throne – following the sudden loss of life of his father and mom 4 years in the past – that the then-Prince Misuzulu married Ntokozo Mayisela.

The 2 have been already a pair and had two kids collectively, however based on one other cultural professional, Prof Musa Xulu of the College of Zululand, the choice to marry appeared be be hurried.

“It appears as if he felt he couldn’t be a king with out a spouse,” he advised the RAYNAE.

Queen kaMayisela got here from an “unusual household” – as lots of the wives of Zulu kings do – in a small mining city in KwaZulu-Natal province.

It was as a cabaret singer acting at a restaurant within the coastal metropolis of Durban that she caught the royal eye, the educational mentioned.

Her senior standing within the household was made clear on the king’s state coronation in December 2022 when she sat by his aspect.

However her place is now beneath risk, with the monarch saying in courtroom papers that they haven’t lived as husband and spouse for at the least yr and their marriage has irretrievably damaged down.

The palace adopted this by sending out invites for the king’s marriage ceremony to a brand new bride, Nomzamo Myeni, set to happen in late January. The bride-price, generally known as lobola, had already been paid in cattle – a prized asset in Zulu tradition.

Queen kaMayisela didn’t take any of this mendacity down, instituting separate courtroom motion to halt the marriage, which was postponed because of this.

Her argument was that the king – recognized to his topics as “Ingonyama”, that means Lion – can be committing the offence of “bigamy” with out first “changing” his civil marriage to her into a conventional Zulu marriage.

However the decide threw out her case, saying she had had a “turnaround” in angle as she had already agreed her husband may take different wives.

He famous the monarch had already executed so – marrying Nozizwe kaMulela, the MD of Eswatini Financial institution, in 2022.

Prof Mazibuko defined that polygamy was not initially a part of Zulu tradition, the truth is the primary two kings have been bachelors.

But it surely was embraced by their successors – King Misuzulu is the ninth monarch of the Zulu nation – as a means of constructing allies.

Queen kaMulela comes from an influential household in Eswatini and the wedding was apparently organized to strengthen the ties between the royal households.

But it’s unclear whether or not the pair are nonetheless in a relationship, because the high-powered banker has not been noticed at Zulu cultural occasions for some time – with hypothesis their last marriage rituals haven’t been accomplished.

The present king’s varied marriage issues appear to stem from the truth that custom has not been correctly adopted.

Within the case of the primary spouse, he opted for a modern-day marriage, with out a conventional marriage ceremony.

“For a wedding to be perfected beneath Zulu customized, there must be a public gathering, with tune and dance,” Prof Xulu mentioned.

“You, because the bride, should lead with a solo tune and the bride-maids dance with you, and also you carry a spear which you give to the king – after which there is no such thing as a going again.”

This has left Queen kaMayisela with out the safety of custom – and solely the provide of month-to-month upkeep of $1,100 (£850) for a yr, although she was more likely to demand extra earlier than returning to the lifetime of a commoner, Prof Xulu mentioned.

Within the case of the second spouse, the educational mentioned lobola had been paid in January 2022, however royal insiders counsel the king felt “those that went to pay did not have the authority to take action” – plus this union has not been marked with a public ceremony.

The fortunes of the would-be third spouse, Nomzamo Myeni, stay unclear because the king didn’t marry her in January regardless of the courtroom giving the go-ahead.

Prof Xulu mentioned that in Zulu tradition a “postponed” marriage often by no means takes place.

Although Ms Myeni continues to be being seen with the king, accompanying him to a state occasion final week the place she was known as a queen, suggesting their marriage ceremony might happen as soon as the king’s divorce goes by means of.

But as a commoner she would carry no highly effective connections along with her, which can be why one of many monarch’s aides lately confirmed to native media there was “a brand new queen-to-be” – Sihle Mdluli, who hails from the royal household of a small ethnic group in South Africa.

The aide urged she may be named “the mom of the nation” – a title that will make her essentially the most senior queen along with her kids doubtless heirs.

However Prof Xulu mentioned he wouldn’t be shocked if that marriage ceremony additionally didn’t happen, because the king’s relationships all appeared to run into hassle.

“I’m not positive whether or not he was able to be king, and whether or not he has good advisers,” the educational mentioned.

He identified that the monarch had additionally been behaving erratically in his public life, sacking a number of senior officers in his retinue.

On prime of this, he has put in himself because the chairman of the board of a financially profitable land belief, of which he’s the only real trustee.

The belief was controversially established shortly earlier than South Africa grew to become a democracy in 1994, giving it management of about 2.8 million hectares (seven million acres) of land in KwaZulu-Natal.

King Misuzulu has additionally suspended all members of the board, bar one, accusing them of being uncooperative.

He did this in opposition to the recommendation of the federal government, which identified that as chairman he can be required to account to parliament in regards to the belief’s operations – one thing that will not be in line with his standing as a constitutional monarch.

The dispute stays unresolved, giving the federal government a significant political headache because it tries to keep away from going head-to-head with the king.

Prof Xulu mentioned he wouldn’t be shocked if in some unspecified time in the future a strong rival faction inside the royal household launched a contemporary bid to dethrone him by asking the courts to rule that he’s not “match and correct” to be king.

The monarch’s half-brother, Prince Simakade Zulu, who’s the late king’s eldest son, has lengthy coveted the crown, however his backers have been outmanoeuvred by Misuzulu’s allies in succession discussions.

President Ramaphosa later gave Misuzulu a “certificates of recognition”, paving the best way for him to be funded by the federal government.

However Prince Simakade’s supporters didn’t hand over – going to the Excessive Courtroom to declare his state coronation “illegal” – and gained.

The courtroom dominated that President Ramaphosa had didn’t adjust to the legislation, which required him to order an investigation into objections to Misuzulu’s accession.

The established order stays, pending the end result of an enchantment.

The scandals over King Misuzulu’s non-public life – particularly his divorce – have the potential to weaken his place ought to it come to a different tussle for the crown.

Although Prof Mazibuko famous there had all the time been fierce competitors for the Zulu crown – besides as of late it takes place in courtroom as a substitute of a bloody battlefield.

“He’s not the primary king to undergo quite a bit,” she mentioned. “I hope he survives, and all the pieces settles down.”