Durban — The Zulu royal faction that is opposed to King Misuzulu’s kingship has lashed out at the IFP in the province following the party’s removal of the late King Cetshwayo’s name from a building to make way for Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s name.
The IFP-led King Cetshwayo District Municipality under provincial chairperson Thami Ntuli, who is also the mayor, renamed the municipality’s building in Richards Bay after Buthelezi, thereby removing King Cetshwayo’s name.
The royal faction labelled this incident as an insult to the late king.
On Friday the municipality unveiled the name of the building, evoking anger from the faction opposed to King Misuzulu.
At a media briefing in Durban on Sunday, numerous princes and princesses under the leadership of Prince Thokozani Zulu launched an attack on the IFP and Ntuli in particular, saying the IFP never liked nor fought for the kingship as they had been projecting themselves as its custodians.
Prince Thokozani said it was more than an insult that Ntuli could remove King Cetshwayo’s name and replace it with that of the nephew, Prince Buthelezi.
He said that meant Buthelezi was more important than King Cetshwayo.
“We are shattered and disgusted by the insult hurled at the bravest king of the Zulu nation who earned a worldwide reputation and respect for defeating an armed to-the-teeth British army in the famous battle of Isandlwana in 1879. We are angered by this action and we want to remind Ntuli that a political position is temporary, but kingship will be forever,” said Prince Thokozani.
He said nevertheless they were not shocked by the action given the lack of recognition of King Cetshwayo. The prince said if one compared Ulundi and Nongoma they would see how the Zulu royal family was undermined because Ulundi as the capital of the then KwaZulu government was more developed than Nongoma, which is the seat of the kingdom.
Furthermore, Zulu said most of the building and infrastructure in Ulundi were not named after Cetshwayo although he had a palace there.
Prince Mazwi Zulu said as the royal family they would go to the king’s grave and inform him that his name had been removed and replaced with that of his nephew.
In his response, Ntuli said this was not a renaming of the building, but rather a reinstatement of Prince Buthelezi’s name because the building was initially named after him, but this was changed by the ANC-led council when it took over in 2011.
Ntuli said it was wrong to portray a picture that King Cetshwayo was not respected and recognised by his municipality. He added that his administration had always recognised King Cetshwayo.
“In a short space of time the district municipality under my leadership organised the King Cetshwayo memorial lecture and held the battle of Isandlwana commemoration for the first time,” said Ntuli.
Zulu’s faction also expressed its disappointment at the decision to remove police officers who were guarding palaces and challenged the province to rethink its decision since it had left the late queens and children unsafe and vulnerable,
Comment from the premier’s office was being awaited by the time of going to press.
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