South Africa: death of Goodwill Zwelithini, the influential king of the Zulu nation
Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithin (center) with party leader Inkatha Mangosuthu Buthelezi (dr).
September 24, 2019 in Durban.
AFP - RAJESH JANTILAL
Text by: RFI Follow
3 min
Goodwill Zwelithini died at the age of 72 after a long hospital stay with diabetes.
Zulu king since 1971, he was South Africa's most influential monarch.
A king without power, but with moral authority for 12 million South Africans.
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With our correspondent in Johannesburg,
Romain Chanson
His word counted.
King Goodwill Zwelithini did not have his tongue in his pocket.
For the better, as when he called on South Africans to wage a war on rape in a country plagued by sexual assault.
And for the worse, when he called on foreigners to pack their bags amid
xenophobic riots
in 2015.
Goodwill Zwelithini was a controversial king in the image of the rites he reintroduced.
Circumcision among boys despite the health risks and the reed dance, a virginity test and a ceremony where thousands of young women parade topless and offer a reed to the king.
A celebration of purity supposed to fight AIDS and teenage pregnancies.
Goodwill Zwelithini was both the guardian of Zulu culture and of his own interests across his ethnicity.
This large landowner was opposed to the distribution of the three million hectares he managed on his territory, however inherited from the apartheid regime that fell in 1994.
After half a century of reign, the Zulu king leaves the image of a "
much appreciated monarch
", according to Cyril Ramaphosa the South African president.
His successor, among one of his 28 children, is not yet known.
Deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Isilo Samabandla, His Majesty King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu.
pic.twitter.com/2mtYLnRQ5w
- Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 #StaySafe (@CyrilRamaphosa) March 12, 2021
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Cyril Ramaphosa