A South African court has ruled that the official crowning of the new Zulu king last year by President Cyril Ramaphosa was “illegal and invalid”.
The law court had also ordered him to set up an inquiry to determine if King Misuzulu ka Zwelithini’s ascension to the throne happened in line with the customary laws.
The coronation had come after a legal battle by the king’s half-brother, Prince Simakade Zulu, who had launched claims of being the rightful heir.
Their father’s death in 2021 led to a bitter family conflict over the succession of the throne.
Their father, the late King Goodwill Zwelithini had been the longest-reigning Zulu monarch. He had six wives and about 28 children.
After all was said and done, King Misuzulu apparently won the succession battle as his traditional coronation in August 2022 was followed by a state ceremony two months later when Ramaphosa offered him a certificate of recognition in front of a multitude of people.
Under the South African law, the president can proffer official recognition to the new king, making a way for him to be treated like a constitutional monarch and to be given funds by the government.
Prince Simakade had argued that Ramaphosa’s recognition of his younger half-brother as the king was a hurried affair and that it failed to follow due traditional and legal procedures.
The court had emphasised that it was not deciding on who was the rightful king, but on if the president had followed rightful procedures before recognising King Misuzulu as the ruler.
Finally, it said Ramaphosa had failed to obey the law, which mandated for him to call for an investigation into the objections to the installation.
