The king in a suit and wearing a traditional headdress speaks at a podium King Misuzulu kaZwelithini has brought a divorce action against one of his wives in court. File Picture: Shelley Kjonstad Independent Newspapers
Cultural experts have described the decision by amaZulu King Misuzulu KaZwelithini to divorce his wife in court as an “anomaly”.
They noted that this is the first time in recent memory that a serving king has brought a divorce action in court, adding that generally, if the king and a queen are no longer on good terms, the king simply keeps away from that queen.
It was recently reported that the king filed for divorce from one of his wives in November last year. The matter is before the court.
Professor Nogwaja Zulu said this is the first time in history that he is aware of where a king has lodged formal divorce proceedings.
“It could be that because the marriage is a Western marriage with a marriage certificate, that could have necessitated this. However, it has never happened before that the king files for a divorce through the courts.
“In the past, there have been instances where the king and his queen fell out; every queen had her own house, and what would happen is that the king would simply stop visiting that house. We know that there is at least one queen who resided in the Vryheid area where one of the kings in the past fell out with her; he did not visit her.
“Even in cases where the king and the queen have fallen out, that did not change the relationship between the queen and the members of the public. The public would continue to support that queen. Such a situation allows for the king to change his mind and visit the queen. If there are traditional ceremonies, the king would visit that queen because they cannot take place without the king being there.”
Professor Sihawukele Ngubane concurred, adding that the late King Zwelithini ruled for 50 years, and during his tenure, “we never saw anything like this”.
He said the development does not fill the nation with good feelings.
“The nation has been hoping for stability in the kingdom, and such developments make it look like there is no stability. In Zulu culture, marriage is a family affair; if the queen had been wrong in some way, the families should have gotten involved, just as they were involved in the discussion of the marriage. The discovery is a shock to the nation, as the subjects look up to the king as their leader,” he said.
Another cultural expert, Dr Gugu Mazibuko from the University of Johannesburg, said the matter had shocked the nation and was very painful as it involved a young couple and a marriage that was less than five years old.
She noted that in the past, there had been kings who had gone through similar situations, but at that time, the matters of the royal family were kept very private.
“Even if the couple had separated, it would be difficult to tell from the outside, and the wife would remain in the family so that the children grow up as part of that family,” said Mazibuko.
She explained that King Misuzulu’s situation is playing out differently because some of the processes to finalise the traditional wedding were not completed, and the matter seemed to have been finalised legally before cultural rituals were performed, which is what this legal process entails.
“We have not seen the cultural wedding of the current king. If you recall, we saw all the weddings of the late King Goodwill, including his marriage to the last queen, Nomafu, which was televised.”
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