Zulu King MisuZulu speaks: ‘I am ready to work for my people’

The new Zulu King MisuZulu ka Zwelithini is bracing for what will probably be the biggest role in his life, leading one of the biggest monarch’s on the continent and continuing the legacy built by his father, the late King Goodwill Zwelithini.

MisuZulu has spoken out for the first time since being announced as the new Zulu King, in the wake of the passing of his mother, Zulu Regent Queen Mantfombi Dlamini-Zulu. She passed away in April, months after the King. In her will, read out on live television, Queen Mantfombi had named MisuZulu as the next person to assume the throne.

In a television interview, King MisuZulu said the focus now is completing what was already started by his father.

“What my father left as a foundation for us to carry on, I have to build on that, not to eliminate and say we are starting a new thing, new beginnings. I think my father, the king, had already started on a good note, he laid the foundation for myself and for the nation…,” he said.

“I really have a foundation that I am going to work with in so far as all I need to do, and maybe a few years later I can start my foundation, but I need to complete what the late king (King MisuZulu) has already initiated and started,”

King MisuZulu

King MisuZulu plans to bring the Royal family together

The divisions within the Zulu Royal family are no secret and to a certain extent, have been fuelled by his ascension to the throne. King MisuZulu has conceded to there being conflict but said this is something he intends to address.

“I believe through my family that we will come back together to be one. I don’t have anyone in my family that I say I dislike, for any reason. I do believe in my family. I am here, part of my family and I will bring them together,” the King said.

Princesses Ntandoyenkosi and Ntombizosuthu have filed papers to challenge Misuzulu Zulu’s recognition and are seeking to halt his coronation, which the KwaZulu-Natal government is yet to announce.

They are King Zwelithini’s daughters with his first wife, Queen Sibongile Dlamini. The late Queen Mantfombi was considered the King’s great wife because she was also born a royal, being the sister of Eswatini’s King Mswati.