The Pietermaritzburg High Court has dismissed an urgent application by queen Ntokozo kaMayisela Zulu, who sought to stop King Misuzulu kaZwelithini from marrying his third wife, Nomzamo Myeni.
The court heard that the AmaZulu king and queen had previously agreed to convert their civil marriage into a customary marriage to allow him to take more wives.
In his affidavit, King Misuzulu stated that he had no plans to conclude a marriage before resolving his current marriage to Queen Ntokozo in a way that would allow him to marry more women.
Despite wedding invitations being sent out, King Misuzulu further denied planning a wedding on January 25 and 26.
The court also noted that while KaMayisela might have bore witness to wedding preparations, her application did not clearly explain what she was trying to prevent on the said dates.
Queen gave consent
The judge said she had previously agreed to the king marrying other women but was not seemingly turning her back on the agreement.
“She even agreed, as I stated above, how that will be done. So, she gave consent to the respondent to marry other wives,” said the judge.
“So, now when the respondent takes steps towards marrying other wives, it is difficult to understand why there is this turnaround on the part of the applicant.”
He said the affidavit suggested that there might be tensions between the couple, which may have influenced KaMayisela’s application.
He pointed out that the king’s divorce action against the queen appears to have caused a change in her stance.
However, the court highlighted that the queen would still have the opportunity to respond in the ongoing divorce case.
Case struck off the roll
“But the fact of the matter is that that divorce action is still coming before court; the applicant is still going to plead,” said the judge.
“If the divorce action is not as pleaded by the respondent, then the applicant will have a right to put her case before court.”
It was also noted that by agreeing to the king taking more wives, the queen had inherently allowed him to proceed with marriage preparations.
The judge dismissed the queen’s application, stating that she had not demonstrated a clear right to the relief she sought.
The case was struck off the roll due to a lack of urgency, and KaMayisela was ordered to pay legal costs.
