Picture: GCIS.
Traditional Prime Minister to the Zulu monarch and nation Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi has hit back at criticisms over the presence of Anglican priests at King Misuzulu KaZwelithini’s certification ceremony.
Buthelezi said the king had asked for the Anglican priests to be present in line with his faith and that his late father, King Goodwill KaZwelithini, was a member of the Anglican Church.
The 94-year-old was responding to criticism from the KwaZulu-Natal-based Indonsa Yokusa think-tank over the performance of Anglican or unexplained rituals on the king.
Indonsa Yesizwe think-tank spokesperson Dr. Makhosi Khoza told SAFM’s Elvis Presslin on Tuesday the organisation was “overwhelmed and inundated” with calls from concerned Africans about the rituals that were performed on Misuzulu.
“We are trying to walk away from colonial practices because they have caused enormous psychological damage to our people.”
“When we see rituals that are unexplained, done to our king, especially when you start touching the King’s head, sprinkling oils without explaining what is the symbolism of that,” said Khoza.
The Indonsa Yokusa think-tank’s comments had the Zulu traditional prime minister seething.
“If there is anyone to blame, it is squarely on my shoulders. I don’t regret asking them (the Anglican Church) to join. It was a superb service.”
Buthelezi remarked that everything about the certification ceremony was unprecedented.
“King MisuZulu KaZwelithini is the first monarch to be recognised since apartheid. He is the ninth Zulu king. Our kings have never been recognised, thus our king being recognised in a national ceremony was symbolic.”
Buthelezi has called on the organisation’s Professor Musa Xulu to apologise to the Anglican Church and Archbishop Thabo Makgoba.
“I take serious umbrage with the statements made by Insonsa Yesizwe,” declared Buthelezi.
Khoza reiterated that KwaZulu-Natal is the home of the Shembe Nazareth Baptist Church which informs African spiritual practices.
Khoza argued that King Misuzulu’s subjects are Shembe devotees and required an explanation about what rituals were being performed on their monarch.
Critics also said that an interfaith ceremony might have been more appropriate for the day.
While Buthelezi agreed that an interfaith approach might have been more inclusive, there were also time constraints.
But he argued that nothing inappropriate took place.
“The king is Christian. I do not believe anything inappropriate was done, the ceremony was meticulously performed.”
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