Durban - Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini has denied allegations that he is in the pockets of businesspeople who are showering him with gifts like luxury accommodation in order to capture him as he settles on the throne.
The King says the luxury house in the South Africa-Eswatini border town of Pongola belongs to him, not the businessman whom it was previously alleged to own.
It is not clear who exactly the businessman is, but the last name of the businessman is a Ngwenya and it is believed he owns several properties in several northern KwaZulu-Natal towns like Pongola, Nongoma, Hluhluwe and Jozini.
The issue of the King staying in the luxury suburban house instead of using KwaKhangelamankengana palace which is located in a farm between Nongoma and Pongola, has set tongues wagging within the royal family court.
Although other royal family members understand that the King cannot use KwaKhangelamankengana palace because within it there is a grave of his late mother, Queen Mantfombi Shiyiwe Dlamini-Zulu who passed away in April last year, others are not.
In Zulu culture, a grave, a corpse or a funeral is a bad omen for a King, hence all Kings do not attend funerals, even of their spouses or of their children.
People who have attended funerals have to wait for several days and conduct some cleansing before they meet with Kings or set their foot in palaces.
It is for that reason some members of the Zulu royal family are in agreement with the King not staying at KwaKhangelamankengana, but only going there to meet with guests and conduct ceremonies that have to do with the throne.
IOL understands that the plan is to eventually build the King a new palace where he will stay since KwaKhangelamankengana is out of bounds.
Recently, the King addressed the matter during a meeting of royal family members which was held behind closed doors.
The mass meeting of royals where he addressed the issue of the Pongola house is believed to be the one which was held in Ulundi last Friday.
The recording of the meeting has since surfaced and it was leaked to IOL on Monday.
In it, the King addressed several sensitive issues like his marriages to Ndlunkulu Ntokozo Mayisela and Ndlunkulu Nozizwe Mulela from eSwatini.
He said the house belongs to him and he bought it using his own money. He said this was not money that comes from the state which he gets on the basis of being the King of the Zulu Kingdom.
“Regarding the house in Pongola, you may not know that I know how to work for myself, I have been working deep down in trenches on the earth coming out with wealth like everybody else. God knows that. So, that house in Pongola belongs to me, it is mine, I worked for it as I am approaching my 50s.
“I wonder who told senior royal family members that the house belongs to Ngwenya. Royals, let me clarify this issue so that everyone understands it very well, the house in Pongola is my private property, it does not belong to the state.
“It also does not belong to Ngwenya, whom I don’t know how he is dragged into this issue because that is my house,” the King told the private gathering.
The King’s spokesperson, Prince Thulani Zulu, said it would be wrong for him to comment on what the King said in private and about what was only meant for the ears of royal family members.
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