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The controversial Misuzulu kaZwelithini formalizes his engagement to a South African princess with a dowry payment of 70 cows.
The inhabitants of Zululand have no time to recover from the festivities of their Monarchy when preparations for the next ones begin. The king of the Zulus, Misuzulu kaZwelithini (51 years old), is getting married again. He has taken a liking to walking down the aisle and will do so for the fourth time. The chosen one this time to expand the harem of the South African monarch is Princess Sihle Mdluli, 26 years old. She is the eldest daughter of the Inkhosi -which can be translated as queen or lady- of the Mawewe, the lineage leading the Traditional Authority of a territory in the current South African province of Mpumalanga bordering Eswatini.
Wedding bells have started to ring. Because this week, the lobola has been formalized, that is, the payment of the dowry by the Zulu king's emissaries to the family of Sihle Mdluli, which was set at 70 cows. The sovereign's entourage, which included the new traditional prime minister of the Zulu Kingdom -the most populous and powerful of all those recognized today in South Africa-, several advisors, and members of various royal regiments, traveled to the village of Mpumalanga, home of the Royal Residence of the Mawewe, to deliver the valuable cattle. Negotiations for the union, known locally as the testing of the ground, began in March of last year. And, following the lobola, the engagement is now official. The wedding ceremony is expected to take place in autumn.
Princess Sihle Mdluli.Social Media
However, the marriages of King Misuzulu kaZwelithini are always surrounded by controversies. Just remember the soap opera that became his wedding with his third wife, Nomzamo Myeni, whom he finally married last November after leaving her standing at the altar a few months earlier.
Misuzulu and Nomzamo were supposed to get married in January 2025. But everything fell apart after the king's first wife, Queen Ntokozo kaMayisela, with whom he was in the process of separation, went to court to file a preventive complaint against her husband, accusing him of "bigamy". The Justice system eventually ruled in favor of the Zulu king, stating that the queen had consented in the past to his multiple marriages, as allowed by local customary laws. But the damage was done. Amid all kinds of rumors, the young Ntokozo kaMayisela stopped appearing at official events. As if she had disappeared off the face of the earth. And the Palace simply stated that the sovereign had withdrawn for a while to engage in spiritual exercises to reflect on divine and human matters.
Eventually, things settled down. First, the divorce proceedings between Queen Ntokozo kaMayisela and Misuzulu were suspended -probably the queen was satisfied with not losing her status at Court-. And, as mentioned, the royal Palace of KwaKhangela, in Nongoma, was adorned to receive the guests who, after so many ups and downs, attended the marriage with Ntokozo.
As they say, there's no stopping at three, so our protagonist is already onto the next one. A sweet piece of news that comes in handy for the Zululand royal family to turn the page on the scandal -one of many- that the monarch has just been involved in, affecting precisely his wife Nomzamo.
In this case, it seems that love hasn't been worn out from overuse, as they barely had time. But a recent video of both -apparently recorded by the same third queen- has gone viral and caused tremendous shock in South Africa. In the footage, Misuzulu, seemingly in a state of severe intoxication, can be heard uttering terrible insults to his wife and threatening to harm her. The reason for the altercation was the queen leaving the Palace without permission, greatly angering the monarch. "You are out there without my permission. When you are a wife, you ask for permission. At least inform your husband," he can be heard saying in the video, filled with insults and everything but kind words towards his wife. The terrifying sequence ends with Nomzamo remaining silent until the end of the video, when she is heard saying, "This is the life I live, day and night."
The Zulu leader expressed his "deep" regret after the leak. And a Palace spokesperson stepped in to regret the "pain" and "shame" that the king's outburst may have caused, but also explained that these were past events, already overcome, emphasizing that the current relationship between the couple was excellent, as reflected in their recent joint official appearances.
The video sparked a strong division on social media among South African citizens: while some immediately accused the king of abusive and unworthy behavior, others criticized the queen for airing private matters in public. The scandalous episode has also reopened very serious debates in the southern country, such as the concerning issue of alcoholism, which has become a major social scourge, or the demand from some groups for traditional Monarchies in South Africa to be subject to accountability regimes that are currently almost non-existent.
Since the promulgation of the 1996 Constitution, South Africa, the vibrant Republic that is a kaleidoscope of ethnicities, cultures, and languages, like much of the continent, officially recognizes the status of the so-called South African traditional leaders, including the monarchs of seven kingdoms. Of all of them, the most important is the Zulu, both because it exerts a great influence over almost a fifth of the South African population and because of the long history of relationships between this Monarchy and other African dynasties. For example, the Zulu group includes former South African president Jacob Zuma, who maintains his influence intact among his people, despite the corruption scandals that surround him.
The Zulu Royal House receives an annual allocation of about five million dollars from the South African Government, not including a salary for the head of the dynasty. But, above all, the royal family controls the Ingonyama Trust, a corporation that manages 30% of all arable land in the province of KwaZulu-Natal -roughly the size of Belgium-, aimed, at least on paper, at improving the living conditions of the Zulu people.
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