Durban - De facto Zulu King, Misuzulu kaZwelithini, whose ascendancy to the throne is being hotly disputed by some Zulu royal family members, is set to marry a second wife.
The King’s heart has been smitten by a Swati banking executive who spent most of her time studying at the University of Stellenbosch, where she obtained her MBA. Prior to that, she obtained a law qualification from Rhodes University.
On Sunday, the King who is already married to Queen Ntokozo Mayisela of Newcastle in KwaZulu-Natal, was in the kingdom of eSwatini to kick off the first process to officially marry Nozizwe Mulela (she is regarded as a commoner), who is currently the managing director of the state-owned eSwatini Bank.
Critics of King Mswati and the government he indirectly appoints via his prime minister calls the bank a “piggy bank for royal family members and their hangers-on.”
Zulu royal sources said the matter of getting a Swati wife was discussed when King Misuzulu visited eSwatini in August this year to be introduced to King Mswati, who is his uncle as he is the half-brother of his mother, the late Queen Mantfombi Dlamini-Zulu.
It appears that Mswati then assigned people to kick off the process, with Mulela being identified as the suitable future queen for the Zulu nation.
Mulela has an interesting family history. She is the daughter of the late Professor Lydia Makhubu, one of the longest-serving vice-chancellors of the University of eSwatini. At some point, the university’s students used to jokingly refer to the place “KaLaMkhubu – Makhubu’s place.”
BREAKING NEWS: Zulu King, Misuzulu, who is set to be coronated next month, has taken a second wife, Nozizwe Mulela. Mulela is a Swati national, a banking guru and she is the managing director of the state owned Eswatini Bank. She studied at the University of Stellenbosch. @IOL pic.twitter.com/tmpbTIeaW3
King Mswati is the chancellor of the university, and most of the time, the all-powerful university’s senate chairperson position is given to a royal family member.
Another interesting part of the history of Mulela is that she is the cousin of dissident Swati journalist Bheki Makhubu, the owner and editor of the critical Nation magazine, which is known for challenging King Mswati and his government which is perceived to be chronically corrupt and always blindly bending to the royal family.
In July 2014, Bheki was sentenced to jail by a controversial judge, Mpendulo Simelane, whom some foreign diplomats implied that he was trying to please the under fire Swati royal family.
Makhubu wrote a series of articles criticising a chief justice who was appointed by King Mswati and was perceived to be doing his spadework before they fell out and the chief justice fled to his native Lesotho.
After 15 months in prison, Makhubu and human rights lawyer Thulani Maseko appealed to the supreme court of the kingdom which sits on a seasonal basis. They were then released, and the crown (State) opted not to oppose the appeal.
Bheki was quoted by the Times of Swaziland, Tuesday edition, confirming that her cousin has been hitched with the Zulu King.
However, King Misuzulu personal assistant, Prince Thulani, despite all the evidence, denied that the king was planning to marry Mulela.
“No, that’s blue lies if you heard that,” Prince Thulani said in his denial on Tuesday morning.
Political Bureau