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One year on, the noble words and actions of a Zulu monarch are recalled

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Sihle Zikalala is the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal.

As we reach one year after King Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu’s passing, we remember a colossus who walked among us — one whose deeds left his indelible footprints in the sands of time.

With the passing of His Majesty King Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu on 12 March 2021, the sun set on KwaZulu-Natal. The cries of the nation reverberated through the mountains and valleys of our beautiful land. The unexpected had happened – the great lion had shed its skin – and by undergoing the inevitable, he too joined the immortals in the world beyond.

In our eyes, His Majesty’s demise was sudden – at 72 years of age, after reigning for about 50 years, we assumed he would live forever. 

We had never imagined life without His Majesty King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuZulu. Indeed, for generations, His Majesty was the only king we had known in our lives. We came to believe in his immortality as an ever-present monarch.

As we reach one year after His Majesty’s passing, we remember a colossus who walked among us – one whose deeds left his indelible footprints in the sands of time. 

We remember his enduring legacy, which was to allow himself to be used as a royal instrument for peace in KwaZulu-Natal. In a true demonstration of servant leadership, His Majesty thus enabled the entire South Africa to be free, democratic and equal.

He too joined the general consensus that, without KwaZulu-Natal, the national democratic project would probably be stillborn and dead in the water. This reality could have been abused to keep South Africa’s freedom perpetually at bay, but His Majesty chose the path to democracy – the path to peace. 

His contribution to peace is therefore unmeasurable and will for centuries stand as one of his greatest legacies. There was peace not only because under His Majesty’s reign no war was ever declared, or that His Majesty called for a truce between his warring people, stopping them from destroying each other without end. Rather, it is that His Majesty dedicated his entire life to creating the very conditions that would reduce, and in the end eliminate, the possibility of war between the people of KwaZulu-Natal.

His Majesty’s masterstroke was perhaps to realise that his greatness extended beyond party political lines and that he was king for all, regardless of affiliation. 

In the violent period leading to the 1994 elections in KwaZulu-Natal, the province only had one uniting symbol, which was His Majesty. As a strategic point of convergence between the political parties, His Majesty rose to become a force of unity to which both the ANC and the IFP – as the main parties at the time – paid equal allegiance. 

After 2004, at the insistence of the ANC, His Majesty assumed his respectable place when, for the first time ever, his role was legally guaranteed as the province’s monarch in the governance system of the country.

In the post-1994 era, His Majesty understood that, as former premier and now ambassador S’bu Ndebele declared, peace is a necessary condition for development. Without peace, destruction reigns. 

Then premier Ndebele reminded us, as he addressed the African Peer Review Mechanism in 2006, that KwaZulu-Natal is “a province that has known war; a province that has known conflict. A province that has experienced the bloodbath of black-on-black violence. And precisely because we know war, we hate it. We know conflict, we hate it. We know bloodbath, we hate it. We want the situation where there is not only the absence of war, but a situation where peace and reconciliation is irreversible”.

His Majesty hated the idea that the people of his father were killing each other in KwaZulu-Natal. His Majesty knew it and he hated it. His Majesty knew political conflict and His Majesty really hated it. 

In April 1994, following a six-hour meeting with Archbishop Desmond Tutu, His Majesty told the media: “I plead to them now… [the] killing must come to an end.” 

The call for peace and reconciliation was to become a rallying point as the new South Africa was in the process of being born.

Development can never be present in the absence of peace. Peace can never be absent in the presence of development.

His Majesty’s call for an end to no-go areas and to allow development was therefore instrumental in creating the environment for the delivery of water, sanitation, access roads, schools, clinics, hospitals and electricity. This led to the total transformation of the lives of the African majority in rural areas and townships which had hitherto been left out of the apartheid-based development.

Thus we pay tribute to His Majesty for guiding the nation through some of the most testing challenges of our time. While he remained the chief custodian of our culture and heritage, Isilo revived many of the ceremonies of the nation, such as Umkhosi woMhlanga for the girls. 

When the country was hit by the Aids pandemic, His Majesty revived the custom of Ukusoka (circumcision) calling on all men and boys in KwaZulu-Natal to resume the practice that was stopped by King Shaka to avail men for battle.

In 2014 and 2015, during the flare-up of xenophobic attacks in the province, His Majesty called for peace and on Amakhosi to play a central role in the anti-xenophobia programme. This was an important intervention, precisely because His Majesty’s own words had been misconstrued as having played a part in lighting the fires of xenophobia. His call thus represented the best trait of a leader who, when circumstances demand, rises above his own feelings or what may be true, and instead considers the interests of the people as paramount. 

His Majesty was also keen that the people of KwaZulu-Natal should be educated, and he took a personal interest in the programme of improving our matric results. 

For years, His Majesty was part of the matric results celebrations, and never forgot to call for skills education and a return to the soil. 

Furthermore, His Majesty was saddened by what he called “ubuvila (laziness)” among the people who complained about food security, and yet failed to use the land in their care for agricultural purposes.  

So we doff our hats to a nation-builder, the conscience of our nation, our royal lodestar and archivist of our cultural treasures who told us we could rise further than the dreams of our forefathers and maternal ancestors.

Recalling that the sun set on the people of KwaZulu-Natal a year ago, we must use this anniversary and the undying spirit of Mdlokombane, Bhejane phum’esqiwini to rekindle the hopes of a people almost devastated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the July civil unrest.

In line with His Majesty’s wishes, the years to come must be full of plenty, where the triple challenges of unemployment, poverty and inequality are a thing of the past. 

As His Majesty prayed, let there be food security and continued peace in our homes and communities. 

Let KwaZulu-Natal assume its rightful place as the premier destination for tourism and investment in the country, and to rise from the ashes of destruction to enable South Africa to take its place of greatness among the nations of the world. Bayede!    

Long live the King! DM

 

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