Where are our royal houses?

The romance still lives in the tales of yesteryear, of Kings and Queens, of princesses finding their princes.

Lady Diana and Princess Charlene, Prince William and Princess Kate with their own newly born blue blood, congratulations to them, and Queen Victoria speak of hundreds of years of pomp, tradition, and of service.

One always reads of a Prince fishing in this lake for that charity or this Queen opening that library at this university built with funds raised in One’s Name. So they do work, in a manner, and the sense of stature from having nobility attached to ones enterprise continues. But what of South African royalty? Unless it’s the House of Traditional Leaders stumbling from one controversy to the next, one rarely hears of them. Perhaps this unbecoming behavior is as a result of Government’s role in reducing traditional leaders to little more than event planners.

This year Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Richard Baloyi allocated a paltry R105 million to, “…continue with its agenda of further transforming the institution of traditional rule whilst … dealing with questions related to marking the centenary of the Land act, effectively managing the impact of the reopening of the lodgement date for the land reform processes.”

Of course, one may be misinterpreting Baloyi altogether. In rural areas traditional leadership plays an immensely important role in society. But the rich culture of royalty in South Africa is, sadly, limping far behind modern times. And as abelungu, one of course is unsure of where to hang ones hat.

Perhaps having spent much of one’s life in the Zulu Kingdom, perhaps one could bend a knee to to His Majesty the King Goodwill Zwelithini, certainly one of the more progressive, and visible monarchs in our country. Or is my king the one of my place of birth?

Whoever it is, there is a tinge of sadness that apartheid took this too from one. There is also annoyance that South African royals are not more visible in the community. Traditions can be, and often are, modernised. Royalty has two choices: Relevance or toy figureheads. What’s it going to be, Your Majesties?