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I have taken note of comments made by Prince Mbonisi, as spokesperson for a group of people he purports to represent. 

Amongst the preposterous claims he makes, Prince Mbonisi claims that I am using my political position to create division in the Royal Family, that I am meddling in the affairs of the Royal Family, and that the cleansing ceremony that is taking place this weekend, has already taken place.

While I do not wish to be drawn into further debates with him, I however need to set the record straight, on a number of issues.

Nqengelele Buthelezi was my great great grandfather. He was the most senior advisor to His Majesty, King Shaka kaSenzangakhona, whom he raised as a child at KwaNobamba Palace. Nqengelele and Mudli ka Ndaba made arrangements for the Queen Mother Nandi and young Prince Shaka to move from KwaNobamba Royal Residence, to the care of King Dingiswayo Mthethwa. This is quite apart from the fact that King Shaka’s Prime Minister was Ngomane Mdletshe.

Mnyamana Buthelezi was my great grandfather, he was integrated into Zulu Regiments by King Dingane. 

It is told that King Mpande at one stage heard his children crying, and was told that Mnyamana was giving them a whacking. The King was so impressed, that he appointed him to be “the Father of the King’s children”. King Mpande went further, and offered his daughter Princess Mthabayi’s hand in marriage to my great grandfather. But my great grandfather said: “I can no longer marry any of our children because you have already said that I am the father of your children.” 

My great grandfather was also appointed by King Cetshwayo as his Traditional Prime Minister and Commander of the King’s Regiments during the Anglo-Zulu War in 1879. When King Cetshwayo was exiled after the defeat of the Zulus on 4 July 1879, he was forced to leave his son behind. It was Prince Ndabuko and my great grandfather, Mnyamana Buthelezi, who fetched his son, and so King Dinuzulu was raised at my great grandfather’s Ekushumayeleni residence until he reached puberty.

My father, Mathole Buthelezi, was appointed by King Solomon kaDinuzulu in 1925, to serve as his Traditional Prime Minister and Undunankulu of the Zulu Nation. Subsequently, King Solomon gave his full sister, Princess Magogo’s hand in marriage to his Prime Minister Mathole. I was born of that union.

I was appointed uNdunankulu weNgonyama neSizwe sikaZulu in 1954 by King Cyprian Bhekuzulu kaSolomon, and served in that capacity until the King’s passing, when I was in charge of all the burial arrangements. 

For almost fifty years, I served in that same capacity under our late King, His Majesty King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu. 

Accordingly, when His Majesty passed away, I bore the burden of informing the nation, and again was in charge of all the burial arrangements.

History also records that when Queen Sibongile Winifred Zulu of KwaKhethomthandayo left the palace at one stage of her marriage to the late King, it fell upon me to intervene. The late King Goodwill Zwelithini and I took my car, and he drove us to the Queen’s family home. She had refused to come back to the palace and I had threatened to sleep on her family couch if she didn’t return with us. It was only after her father, Mr TD Dlamini, intervened, that she agreed to go back to KwaKhethomthandayo with me. We arrived back at the palace at dusk and once we entered the King’s Lounge, I left her there, where she still resides today.

In the face of all these historical facts, which are well known and widely acknowledged, I do not know where the political organisation I founded in 1975 features in all of this? Where does the claim of meddling in the affairs of the Royal Family arise from, when my father’s history, my great grandfather’s history and my great great grandfather’s history speaks of a long lineage of advisors and servants to a number of Zulu Kings. Similarly, the role I have played in service to the Zulu Nation and many Kings, spans over several decades. And began long before the IFP was formed. The notion of political meddling or meddling in general is therefore nothing more than a ludicrous, unfounded claim.

Furthermore, Prince Mbonisi feels seemingly hurt that I have explained his family background.

Let me repeat. Prince Mbonisi did not grow up in the Royal Court. His mother was not married to King Cyprian. His mother, Emmie Ndebele Ndlovu, was a divorcee had an affair with King Cyprian, and that is how Prince Mbonisi was born. Knowing this, we all applauded the way His Majesty King Zwelithini embraced him and used him to run errands.

Again, while I am only mentioning facts, why does Prince Mbonisi find it insulting, or accuse me of meddling in Royal affairs?

Finally, it is misleading for Prince Mbonisi to say that it that the cleansing ceremony in honour of the late King Goodwill Zwelithini has already taken place. He goes further to inform us that in his view, this ceremony has already taken place because the spears of the late King have been cleansed by an Induna.

This is against protocol and in fact, they should be held liable to pay a fine for breaking customs.

His Majesty, King Misuzulu kaZwelithini, as the rightful heir to the Zulu throne, is the only person and rightful authority - as King of the Zulu Nation - to lead the ritual hunt. In line with our traditions, this ritual is performed by His Majesty the King and members of the Royal Family alone.

I can understand Prince Mbonisi’s resistance to accepting facts, reality and reason. Misleading the Zulu Nation has become his permanent occupation. 

However, I give this background not to only to clarify matters for him, but to continue to remind him of the facts, which are far removed from the fabrications he continues to spew. Further, every time I fulfil my duties as Prime Minister, as I have done for many decades, my actions continue to completely discredit the absurd notions he tried to advance today.

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