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As His Majesty King Misuzulu kaZwelithini prepares to hold the annual Reed Dance Ceremony at Enyokeni Royal Palace on Saturday 17 September 2022, it appears that some confusion has been created over the royal residences and who has rightful authority over them.

In my capacity as traditional Prime Minister to the Zulu Monarch and Nation, I wish to resolve any controversy by providing the facts and the background to this matter.

During my time as Chief Minister of the erstwhile KwaZulu Government, my administration began providing official residences to His Majesty the King. With Government funds, the KwaZulu Government built Enyokeni Royal Palace and Ingwavuma Royal Palace. We also renovated His Majesty’s grandfather’s Palace at KwaDlamahlahla. There is also Osuthu Palace and KwaLinduzulu Palace. 

With the dawn of the democratic era, the provincial Government continued to maintain the King’s official residences with State funds. This is the case even now. The Royal Palaces are thus under the authority of the reigning monarch. There is no leeway for the monarch to allot or bequeath an official residence to any of his children or to anyone else.

Considering that the palaces are maintained by provincial funds, if any of the palaces were to be perceived as belonging to anyone other than His Majesty the King, there could no longer be an expectation for the State to maintain it.  

Enyokeni Royal Palace has been the venue for traditional ceremonies for decades. It is not by any means unusual for the Reed Dance Ceremony to take place there, for that has been the case each year since the reintroduction of the Reed Dance Ceremony.

I therefore note with concern the controversy reported in the media over claims that Enyonkeni Royal Palace somehow “belongs” to Prince Simakade. In truth, the only accommodation established at Enyokeni Royal Palace was for the late Regent, the mother of the His Majesty the King. Apart from that, the late King Zwelithini established accommodation for me at Enyokeni as his traditional Prime Minister.

It is a matter of legal fact that all the royal palaces fall under the authority of His Majesty the reigning King. His Majesty thus has every right to choose any of the palaces as the venue for a traditional ceremony; and Enyokeni was established as the venue for traditional ceremonies even under His Majesty’s predecessor, the late King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu.

On this basis, and in the interests of stability, I must caution Prince Mxolisi and Prince Simakade against the claims they are making in the media that His Majesty in any way lacks the authority to hold the Reed Dance Ceremony at Enyokeni Royal Palace, and that, if it goes ahead, it will lead to bloodshed. Such threats are counterproductive and against the spirit of unity which we seek to create within the Zulu nation.

There can be no dispute over His Majesty the King’s right to use any of his official residences – as provided by the State to the reigning monarch – for purposes of traditional ceremonies that unite the Zulu nation.  

Issued by Traditional Prime Minister to the Zulu Monarch and Nation Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi MP