Зулу халқының королі Гудвилл Звелитини (1968-2021)

King of the Zulu nation from 1968 to 2021

Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu (27 July 1948 – 12 March 2021) was the King of the Zulu nation from 1968 to his death in 2021. He became King on the death of his father, King Cyprian Bhekuzulu, in 1968 aged 20 years. Prince Israel Mcwayizeni acted as the regent from 1968 to 1971 while the King took refuge in the then Transkai province of South Africa for three years to avoid assassination. After his 21st birthday and his first marriage, Zwelithini was installed as the eighth monarch of the Zulus at a traditional ceremony at Nongoma on 3 December 1971, attended by 20,000 people. Zwelithini died on 12 March 2021, aged 72, after reportedly being admitted to hospital for diabetes related illness. During preparations for his funeral, the king's traditional prime minister, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, announced that he had died of COVID 19.

In the power vacuum created in the 1990s as Apartheid and the domination of the country by White South Africans was abolished, the King was increasingly drawn to partisan politics. The Zulu dominated Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) initially opposed parts of the new constitution advocated by the African National Congress (ANC) regarding the internal governance of KwaZulu. In particular, the IFP campaigned aggressively for an autonomous and sovereign Zulu king, as constitutional head of state. As a result, the IFP abstained from registering its party for the 1994 election until the king's role in the new democracy is clarified. Mandela and president De Klerk arranged a special meeting where it was agreed that international mediators would be called to try and sort out the issue of a king. As a result, the IFP was registered for the elections. It demonstrated its political strength by taking the majority of the provincial votes for KwaZulu Natal in the said election. Although the constitution makes the role of the King largely ceremonial, it is incumbent upon him to act on the official advice of the provincial premier. On occasion, South African President Nelson Mandela made efforts to bypass the IFP in negotiating with the Zulus, instead making direct overtures to the King (Mandela's daughter, Zeni, is married to Prince Thumbumuzi Dlamini, a brother of King Zwelithini's Great Wife, Queen Mantfombi). Nonetheless, the IFP remained in power in the province until 2003. During most of the King's reign, his cousin (uncle in Zulu African reckoning), Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Prince of KwaPhindangene and founder/head of IFP, was the Zulu prime minister. But, in September 1994, tension between the previously allied kinsmen peaked publicly as the annual Shaka Zulu celebration approached. Rumours that the King was manoeuvring to replace Buthelezi as Zulu prime minister with former regent Prince Mcwayizeni, who had joined the ANC in 1990, seemed likely after the King announced that Buthelezi would no longer be his chief advisor, and simultaneously cancelled the holiday ceremony. Although Buthelezi was then serving as Minister of Home Affairs in South Africa's Cabinet, President Mandela's efforts to broker a reconciliation failed. Buthelezi moved the event from Nongoma to Stanger, and addressed a throng of 10,000 of his Zulu supporters. Subsequently, the King's spokesman, Prince Sifiso Zulu, was being interviewed on television at the South African Broadcasting Corporation's studio when Buthelezi and his bodyguards forcibly interrupted the programme, physically intimidating Prince Sifiso. The televised incident drew national attention and a public rebuke from Mandela, prompting Buthelezi to apologise to the Zulu Royal Family, Cabinet and nation for his behaviour.</blockquote>

The King was chairman of the Ingonyama Trust, a corporate entity established to administer the land traditionally owned by the king for the benefit, material welfare and social well being of the Zulu nation. This land consists of 32% of the area of KwaZulu/Natal. As the custodian of Zulu traditions and customs, King Zwelithini revived cultural functions such as the Umhlanga, the colourful and symbolic reed dance ceremony which, amongst other things, promotes moral awareness and AIDS education among Zulu women, and the Ukweshwama, the first fruits ceremony, which is a traditional function involving certain traditional rituals including the killing of a bull. The latter ceremony was subject to a lawsuit brought in November 2009 by Animal Rights Africa, alleging that the method of killing the animal was cruel and barbaric. He has also traveled abroad extensively to promote tourism and trade in the West for KwaZulu Natal, and to fundraise for Zulu supported charities, often accompanied by one of his queens consort. On such occasions he was frequently officially hosted by local Zulu organizations, and granted audiences to Zulus living abroad. In June 1994, the University of Zululand conferred an honorary doctorate in agriculture upon the King. He was Chancellor of the South African branch of the American based Newport University. In March 1999 Coker College of South Carolina awarded him an honorary doctorate in law. During the first half of 2001 he was inaugurated as Chancellor of the ML Sultan Technikon in KwaZulu Natal. The King's authorized biography, King of Goodwill, was published in 2003. The musical dramatization of this work premiered at the Market Theatre, Johannesburg on 16 March 2005. The King spoke at The Synagogue Church Of All Nations in Lagos, Nigeria, in 2004 regarding the importance of trade and peace.

In January 2012, while speaking at an event commemorating the 133rd anniversary of the Battle of Isandlwana, the King caused controversy with his statement that same sex relations were "rotten". His statements were condemned by the South African Human Rights Commission as well as LGBT rights groups. President Jacob Zuma rebuked the king for his comments. The Zulu Royal Household later said that the King's comments had been mistranslated and that he had not condemned same sex relations, only expressed concern about a state of moral decay in South Africa that has led to widespread sexual abuse, including male on male sexual abuse. In September 2012, King Goodwill Zwelithini asked the KwaZulu Natal government for R18 million to build new property, including a new R6 million palace for his youngest wife Queen Mafu and upgrades to Queen MaMchiza's palace. The King's royal household department CFO, Mduduzi Mthembu, told a parliamentary committee that the money was needed. The department also requested $1.4 million USD for improvements to Queen MaMchiza's palace. The government had already budgeted around $6.9 million USD for the royal family during 2012, not for the first time prompting accusations of lavish spending; in 2008, opposition parties criticised King Zwelithini's wives for spending around $24,000 USD on linen, designer clothes, and expensive holidays. Contending that he was free to say what politicians were not, he asked that foreigners please return to their native lands since, he maintained, South African nationals in diaspora had not gone on to open businesses in host countries. These observations were made during a time of growing unease between South Africans and non nationals, violence having erupted in Soweto in January and spread to KwaZulu Natal, resulting in three deaths.