Goodwill Zwelithini

Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu (27 July 1948 – 12 March 2021) was the King of the Zulu nation from 1968 to his death in 2021.

He became King on the death on of his father, King Cyprian Bhekuzulu, in 1968 aged 20 years.

Prince Israel Mcwayizeni acted as the regent from 1968 to 1971 while the King took refuge in the then Transkai province of South Africa for three years to avoid assassination.

After his 21st birthday and his first marriage, Zwelithini was installed as the eighth monarch of the Zulus at a traditional ceremony at Nongoma on 3 December 1971, attended by 20,000 people.

Zwelithini died on 12 March 2021, aged 72, after reportedly being admitted to hospital for diabetes-related illness.

During preparations for his funeral, the king's traditional prime minister, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, announced that he had died of COVID-19.

In 1989 he criticized the ANC leadership for not inviting him and Buthelezi to a rally welcoming back the Rivonia Trial defendants, who had been released after almost three decades of imprisonment.

As the constitutional monarch of the kingdom of KwaZulu-Natal, he was head of the Ubukhosi, the state-recognized institution of Traditional Leadership that consists of local chiefs.

His leadership role also entailed chairmanship of the Usuthu Tribal Authority and Nongoma Regional Authority, both established under the provisions of the KwaZulu Amakhosi and Iziphakanyiswa Act.

In the power vacuum created in the 1990s as Apartheid and the domination of the country by White South Africans was abolished, the King was increasingly drawn to partisan politics.

The Zulu-dominated Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) initially opposed parts of the new constitution advocated by the African National Congress (ANC) regarding the internal governance of KwaZulu.

In particular, the IFP campaigned aggressively for an autonomous and sovereign Zulu king, as constitutional head of state.

Rumours that the King was manoeuvring to replace Buthelezi as Zulu prime minister with former regent Prince Mcwayizeni, who had joined the ANC in 1990, seemed likely after the King announced that Buthelezi would no longer be his chief advisor, and simultaneously cancelled the holiday ceremony.

For his safety, federal troops escorted King Zwelithini by helicopter to Johannesburg.

Although Buthelezi was then serving as Minister of Home Affairs in South Africa's Cabinet, President Mandela's efforts to broker a reconciliation failed.

Buthelezi moved the event from Nongoma to Stanger, and addressed a throng of 10,000 of his Zulu supporters.

Subsequently, the King's spokesman, Prince Sifiso Zulu, was being interviewed on television at the South African Broadcasting Corporation's studio when Buthelezi and his bodyguards forcibly interrupted the programme, physically intimidating Prince Sifiso.

The televised incident drew national attention and a public rebuke from Mandela, prompting Buthelezi to apologise to the Zulu Royal Family, Cabinet and nation for his behaviour.

Relations between Zwelithini and Buthelezi later improved.

King Zwelithini has cooperated as the law requires with the ANC since it took over the reins of government in KwaZulu-Natal.

The King's finances are controlled by KwaZulu-Natal provincial authorities.

As a result, the IFP abstained from registering its party for the 1994 election until the king's role in the new democracy is clarified.

Mandela and president De Klerk arranged a special meeting where it was agreed that international mediators would be called to try and sort out the issue of a king.

As a result, the IFP was registered for the elections.

It demonstrated its political strength by taking the majority of the provincial votes for KwaZulu-Natal in the said election.

Although the constitution makes the role of the King largely ceremonial, it is incumbent upon him to act on the official advice of the provincial premier.

On occasion, South African President Nelson Mandela made efforts to bypass the IFP in negotiating with the Zulus, instead making direct overtures to the King (Mandela's daughter, Zeni, is married to Prince Thumbumuzi Dlamini, a brother of King Zwelithini's Great Wife, Queen Mantfombi).

But, in September 1994, tension between the previously allied kinsmen peaked publicly as the annual Shaka Zulu celebration approached.

In June 1994, the University of Zululand conferred an honorary doctorate in agriculture upon the King.

Nonetheless, the IFP remained in power in the province until 2003.

During most of the King's reign, his cousin (uncle in Zulu African reckoning), Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Prince of KwaPhindangene and founder/head of IFP, was the Zulu prime minister.

In his address upon the opening of the Provincial Parliament on 28 September 2003, the King advised the government and legislators to give more heed to the Ubukhosi: "Traditional Leaders are neither consulted nor involved in the process of formulating policies that have a direct bearing on their day to day activities. The institution of Ubukhosi has been in existence from time immemorial and has survived many hardships under past colonial regimes. From the point of view of the ordinary citizen, an Inkosi's most important role may lie in his symbolizing of community solidarity. So any notion that the institution of Ubukhosi, now that we have a democratic government in place, can just be wished away, remains a pipe-dream. Some countries just across our borders had decided to do away with the institution of traditional leadership immediately after attaining independence from colonial rulers.

However, they have since realised that they had committed gross mistakes and were now re-inventing these institutions at great costs.

As King of the Zulu Nation I am proud of the role played by the Prime Minister of the Zulu Nation, Prince of KwaPhindangene, Dr MG Buthelezi who had singlehandedly championed the cause of the Institution of Traditional Leadership in this country."

The King was chairman of the Ingonyama Trust, a corporate entity established to administer the land traditionally owned by the king for the benefit, material welfare and social well-being of the Zulu nation.

This land consists of 32% of the area of KwaZulu/Natal.

As the custodian of Zulu traditions and customs, King Zwelithini revived cultural functions such as the Umhlanga, the colourful and symbolic reed dance ceremony which, amongst other things, promotes moral awareness and AIDS education among Zulu women, and the Ukweshwama, the first fruits ceremony, which is a traditional function involving certain traditional rituals including the killing of a bull.

The latter ceremony was subject to a lawsuit brought in November 2009 by Animal Rights Africa, alleging that the method of killing the animal was cruel and barbaric.

He has also traveled abroad extensively to promote tourism and trade in the West for KwaZulu-Natal, and to fundraise for Zulu-supported charities, often accompanied by one of his queens consort.

On such occasions he was frequently officially hosted by local Zulu organizations, and granted audiences to Zulus living abroad.