New Zulu king's coronation marred by legal fights

Thousands of people gathered at the Zulu royal palace in SA for the coronation of a new king in the country’s richest and most influential traditional monarchy at the weekend. Misuzulu Zulu is set to succeed his father, Goodwill Zwelithini, who died in March last year after 50 years in charge, but a bitter succession dispute threatened to overshadow the ceremony, reports Al Jazeera. Although the title of king does not bestow executive power, the monarchs wield great moral influence over more than 11m Zulus, who make up nearly one-fifth of SA’s population. On Friday night, Misuzulu entered the palace’s ‘cattle kraal’ where he took part in a secret rite designed to present the new monarch to his ancestors. Earlier in the week, he killed a lion at a nearby reserve – in one of the last steps before the coronation. His path to the crown has not been smooth, however. King Zwelithini left six wives and at least 28 children when he died last year. Misuzulu is the first son of Zwelithini’s third wife, who he designated as regent in his will. But the queen died suddenly a month later, leaving a will naming Misuzulu as the next king – a development that did not go down well with other branches of the family. Queen Sibongile Dlamini, the late king’s first wife, has backed her son Prince Simakade Zulu as the rightful heir. Some of the late king’s brothers have put forward a third prince as their candidate for the throne. Queen Sibongile’s legal bid to challenge the succession was revived on Friday as she was granted the right to appeal a previous unfavourable ruling. On Saturday, two of her daughters filed an urgent application to stop all rituals pending the appeal.

Full Al Jazeera report