Johannesburg – The AmaZulu royal house’s false unity is beginning to crack, barely a week after rival factions publicly claimed that they had buried the hatchet and were now uniting behind the heir-apparent to the throne Prince MisuZulu kaZwelithini.
Sunday World has established through senior royal insiders that the batt le for the throne will be won in the courts.
They said there were ongoing behind the- scenes skirmishes and backstabbing among royal siblings.
“What you saw last week was a mere public stunt and a fictitious unity. This is far from over. The current debate in the royal house is around the authenticity of the signature in the will of the late king.
“So, the senior princesses and princes want this question to be resolved first before a king is installed. Many are secretly supporting Queen Sibongile in her court case challenging the late king’s estate,” said the insider who preferred to remain anonymous.
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Queen Sibongile Dlamini Zulu is the first wife of the late King Goodwill Zwelithini, who has made an urgent application to the Pietermaritzburg High Court to clarify her constitutional rights as the first wife.
In her court papers, besides demanding that she be given a 50% share of the late king’s estate, she also wants the process of installing the next king to be stopped and that the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government must not proceed with acknowledging anyone as the king of AmaZulu.
Queen Sibongile of the Kwakhethomthandayo royal palace also claims that the signature in the will of the late king was also forged and therefore she wants the court to summon experts to examine its authenticity.
On Thursday, the king designate met premier Sihle Zikalala.
The meeting was apparently aimed at discussing the date of his installation, including gett ing the budget input of the soon-to-be Ingonyama and how the more than R60- million annual budget for AmaZulu royal household should be allocated.
Besides these developments, this week Prince Thokozani Zulu, who has been dubbed a royal dissident for the antics he pulled during the announcement that Prince MisuZulu had been nominated to be the next monarch, said when the time is right, he will spill the beans.
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Prince Thokozani received a tongue lashing from traditional prime minister Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi for seeking to challenge the nomination of Prince MisuZulu.
His attempts were shot down by an agitated Buthelezi, who accused him of being a troublemaker.
The scuffle and commotion that happened during the memorial service of the late Queen Regent Mantfombi Dlamini led to Prince MisuZulu being whisked away amid safety concerns.
Professor Jabulani Maphalala, an acclaimed historian and Zulu culture expert, said it would take some time before the rival factions see eye to eye, saying the strength and character of any king is tested through the trials and tribulations that he faces.
“There is no king in Zulu history whose journey to the throne was easy.
“That is why even the late King Zwelithini in his praises he was called Umdlokombane ovuka adle abakwabo, meaning he had to face and fight his own blood relatives before he was accorded the throne,” said Maphalala.
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