The Zulu royal has announced that Queen Mantfombi Dlamini Zulu will be laid to rest on Thursday. Queen Mantfombi, who became regent just over a month ago after the death of King Goodwill Zwelithini, was reportedly unwell and had been hospitalised. Traditional prime minister to the Zulu monarch, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, in a statement said the regent queen’s body would be transported from Johannesburg to her royal palace in Nongoma in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday. The queen will then be interred at dawn on Thursday, in line with her wishes.
The Queen’s memorial service will be conducted on Friday at KwaKhangelamakengane, Nongoma. Meanwhile, the King’s firs wife, Sibongile Dlamini is running to courts to challenge the authenticity of the late King Zwelithini’s will and demands 50% of the estate, stating that she and the late king jointly controlled the estate which is almost three million hectares of land under the Ingonyama Trust Fund.
The Zulu royal historian Shalo Mbatha said there was no leadership vacuum: “The grandfather of King Zwelithini also left a will that King Zwelithini’s father becomes king. It was the queen who took that will to court to have it mandated. The systems are in place in the Zulu traditional leadership to make sure that everything is in place.”
