Swati dynasty now leads both Zulu and Swati kingdoms

[Pages:13]Monday 22 March 2021, 0145

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Swati dynasty now leads both Zulu and Swati kingdoms

Lungani Zungu

Revered Swati monarch King Sobhuza II himself couldn't have dreamed that at one point his son and daughter would rule both the Swati Kingdom and the Zulu Kingdom at the same time.

The death of Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu pushed his wife, Queen Mantfombi, to the fore as the regent until a successor is named.

Queen Mantfombi (above with King Zwelethini) is the sister of King Mswati III and the daughter of King Sobhuza II.

Poor succession planning in the Zulu Royal family has made the house of King Sobhuza the most powerful African Traditional house in Southern Africa.

It is not yet clear whether Queen Mantfombi's son Prince Misuzulu will be the next King of the Zulus.

The Zulu nation is likely to know by Wednesday who will take over from the late King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu.

The royal house has been locking horns over the succession plan.

In a statement released on Sunday, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, traditional minister of the Zulu monarch, confirmed that a meeting was held by senior members of the royal family on Saturday.

He said various matters were discussed, including King Zwelithini's will, which was expected to name his successor.

The meeting was held at KwaKhethomthandayo Royal Palace in Nongoma, north of KZN.

Buthelezi said he would update the nation after the meeting.

Queen Mantfombi, tied the knot with King Zwelithini in 1971, the same year he was installed as king.

According to historian and author Zoza Shongwe, a woman has been regent before.

When King Jama kaNdaba died in 1781, his daughter Mkabayi Mkabayi took over as a regent leader as Jama's son Senzangakhona was still young at the time.

Normally, Shongwe said, the child of the king's first wife, who comes from a royal family, like Queen Mantfombi, took over the reins when the king died.

In this case that is Prince Misuzulu, 47, the son of Queen Mantfombi and King Zwelithini.

Apart from the authority, the seat also comes with a budget of R71 million from the KZN government and other benefits from private individuals.

Shongwe said he did not know the procedure the royal house will follow when selecting the next king.

"They could choose to use another selection method, which can lead to someone else becoming the king."

Photo: pindula.co.zw

Life, death and denial in a time of Covid

Arthur Greene

Silenced under President John Magufuli's rule, one Tanzanian journalist is at last able to make her voice heard.

Elsie Eyakuze is a prolific writer based in Dar es Salaam.

She has a weekly column in The East African, and has written throughout the pandemic.

She has not been able, however, to write the story she needed to write: her own story of living through the pandemic in a country ruled by a President who denied its existence.

On Saturday, following the death last week of Magufuli, Eyakuze published a lengthy thread on Twitter. She begins,

"Now. For the real story I have been at a loss to tell for too long."

She recalls how quickly the virus swept the nation, and how, soon after, the deaths followed.

"The first friend to go was a shock. How could someone so full of life just... disappear? We grieved."

She notes the negligence with which her country reacted, "trying to focus on an election and pushing herbal supplements as a cure for a disease that apparently didn't exist here."

Eyakuze's powerful and poetic words display the horror of living in Magufuli's Tanzania through a pandemic.

She acknowledges the international commentary of the country's situation, none of which knew what the people of Tanzania were experiencing:

"`Tanzania Denies Covid! Touts prayer and steaming!' The international press was shrill. Gleeful?"

She weaves aspects of her own experience - a cousin and uncle who died - with the country's political turbulence.

She also writes of the suppression of the speculation of Magufuli's whereabouts, after he stopped being seen in public in February:

"I might have to write about where Magufuli is. Last time I did, the piece got killed. I am cautious. I am quiet. I ask another friend. Ah."

Before his death was announced, a Tanzanian man was arrested for publicly claiming that the late president was ill with Covid.

Eyakuze concludes her thread by reminding us of Tanzania's real "Story," not of its leader, but its people:

"`Did he die of Covid-19, tho'. Yes, he did. And him, and her. And them. Tanzanians. And beyond. But they are not who you want to talk about is it? They are not The Story."

Photo source: @MikocheniReport

Hungry burglar turns out to be his own wurst enemy

Arthur Greene

German police have solved a nine-year-old case after DNA found on a half-eaten sausage matched that of a man arrested in France over an unrelated crime.

In March 2012, a burglar who had broken into a house in the German town of Gevelsberg seemingly stopped midway for a bite to eat.

The hungry housebreaker ate half of a wurst - the German word for a sausage - before completing the crime.

It is yet to be revealed what type of wurst the burglar had nibbled on, though police have said it was a hard variety.

Now, nine years later, forensics have matched his DNA to a 30year-old Albanian man who was recently detained by French police.

German investigators from the Nordrhein-Westfalen force said in a statement that the DNA pattern did not produce a direct hit at the time but that automatic comparisons with international databases led to a link later on.

The investigators were alerted after a DNA sample was taken by French police from a man involved in a violent crime.

But Schwelm police said the suspect remains free and he may yet escape punishment.

The statute of limitations on the burglary has expired, meaning he is not likely to be extradited to Germany if arrested.

The famished felon is likely to remain on the streets for the time being.

Picture source: Nordrhein-Westfalen police

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