The Japan Times - Succession battle festers as S.Africa's Zulu king fetes young women

EUR -
AED 4.005085
AFN 78.108938
ALL 98.299374
AMD 425.96611
ANG 1.952042
AOA 998.806339
ARS 1172.183473
AUD 1.820367
AWG 1.965445
AZN 1.855576
BAM 1.946801
BBD 2.202539
BDT 132.53855
BGN 1.951706
BHD 0.410962
BIF 3189.963962
BMD 1.0904
BND 1.469647
BOB 7.554357
BRL 6.447517
BSD 1.090877
BTN 93.650812
BWP 15.343706
BYN 3.569914
BYR 21371.831708
BZD 2.191181
CAD 1.553547
CDF 3130.537289
CHF 0.938681
CLF 0.028159
CLP 1080.597191
CNY 7.969295
CNH 8.009933
COP 4788.271662
CRC 553.551336
CUC 1.0904
CUP 28.895589
CVE 110.730105
CZK 25.200995
DJF 193.785895
DKK 7.462995
DOP 68.814542
DZD 145.480802
EGP 56.031055
ERN 16.355994
ETB 141.421013
FJD 2.554914
FKP 0.844468
GBP 0.85703
GEL 2.998587
GGP 0.844468
GHS 16.897071
GIP 0.844468
GMD 77.964717
GNF 9438.499034
GTQ 8.420155
GYD 228.910743
HKD 8.470824
HNL 28.077987
HRK 7.533465
HTG 142.742783
HUF 407.951442
IDR 18389.806945
ILS 4.118794
IMP 0.844468
INR 93.774251
IQD 1428.423446
IRR 45905.821702
ISK 144.870311
JEP 0.844468
JMD 172.037117
JOD 0.772988
JPY 161.253726
KES 141.211024
KGS 94.682342
KHR 4320.163538
KMF 491.222796
KPW 981.359619
KRW 1603.91216
KWD 0.335788
KYD 0.909172
KZT 571.856566
LAK 23618.054472
LBP 99006.439326
LKR 324.914029
LRD 217.532318
LSL 20.466889
LTL 3.219666
LVL 0.659572
LYD 6.040556
MAD 10.388781
MDL 19.352342
MGA 5081.26174
MKD 61.519334
MMK 2289.6438
MNT 3825.78904
MOP 8.729866
MRU 43.452104
MUR 49.231572
MVR 16.801498
MWK 1892.391466
MXN 22.573888
MYR 4.88474
MZN 69.687193
NAD 20.466317
NGN 1707.565593
NIO 40.099482
NOK 11.986599
NPR 149.839049
NZD 1.968345
OMR 0.419841
PAB 1.090862
PEN 4.000133
PGK 4.43002
PHP 62.558426
PKR 305.96756
PLN 4.293433
PYG 8732.752574
QAR 3.970128
RON 4.972872
RSD 117.161225
RUB 93.916618
RWF 1544.005801
SAR 4.094726
SBD 9.068125
SCR 15.647559
SDG 654.799209
SEK 10.982831
SGD 1.475418
SHP 0.856883
SLE 24.806959
SLL 22865.135109
SOS 623.146021
SRD 39.978424
STD 22569.069734
SVC 9.544965
SYP 14177.205668
SZL 20.466757
THB 37.760302
TJS 11.853186
TMT 3.816399
TND 3.314675
TOP 2.55383
TRY 41.410082
TTD 7.39286
TWD 35.982752
TZS 2935.052491
UAH 44.763788
UGX 4054.258998
USD 1.0904
UYU 45.947605
UZS 14109.770472
VES 76.504086
VND 28132.309085
VUV 133.156939
WST 3.052656
XAF 652.956642
XAG 0.036213
XAU 0.000366
XCD 2.94686
XDR 0.811446
XOF 651.510234
XPF 119.331742
YER 267.856853
ZAR 21.40583
ZMK 9814.907213
ZMW 30.518048
ZWL 351.108219
  • RBGPF

    1.0200

    69.02

    +1.48%

  • RYCEF

    -0.0200

    8.23

    -0.24%

  • CMSC

    -0.1200

    22.17

    -0.54%

  • NGG

    -3.0300

    62.9

    -4.82%

  • VOD

    -0.1500

    8.35

    -1.8%

  • GSK

    -1.6900

    34.84

    -4.85%

  • RELX

    -2.6300

    45.53

    -5.78%

  • AZN

    -2.6700

    65.79

    -4.06%

  • SCS

    -0.3800

    10.2

    -3.73%

  • BTI

    -0.4300

    39.43

    -1.09%

  • RIO

    -0.1100

    54.56

    -0.2%

  • BP

    -1.2100

    27.17

    -4.45%

  • JRI

    -0.7000

    11.26

    -6.22%

  • BCC

    -3.5500

    91.89

    -3.86%

  • CMSD

    -0.3500

    22.48

    -1.56%

  • BCE

    -0.6300

    22.08

    -2.85%

Succession battle festers as S.Africa's Zulu king fetes young women
Succession battle festers as S.Africa's Zulu king fetes young women / Photo: RAJESH JANTILAL - AFP

Succession battle festers as S.Africa's Zulu king fetes young women

South Africa's new Zulu king on Saturday celebrated thousands of young women at a colourful traditional rite of womanhood, defying a row over the legitimacy of the royal succession.

Text size:

At a stadium nestled between mountains in Nongoma town, the birthplace of South Africa's ethnic Zulu group, bare-breasted young women ululated and cheered as their new king addressed them.

The young women wearing traditional beads on the neck, waist and the head, kicked off a day of festivities, presenting reeds and filing past the newly-crowned Zulu king MisuZulu Zulu.

The King emerged from a tight circle of Zulu warriors to accept his first ever reed as the new monarch, smiling as the crowd chanted in praise.

Every September -- the start of southern hemisphere spring -- thousands of women, known locally as maidens, participate in the "reed dance" in KwaZulu-Natal province.

It is an age-old annual ceremony in celebration of sexual purity and promotion of sexual abstinence among young girls.

The ceremony is a traditional rite of womanhood, rooted historically in an occasion when the king would select new wives from among his subjects.

The 47-year-old new head of South Africa's largest ethnic group was recognised as monarch at a traditional ceremony last month following the death last year of his father King Goodwill Zwelithini, who had reigned for 50 years.

It is the first time the dance is taking place since the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, and MisuZulu's first time presiding over the reed dance.

Dressed in a leopard skin shawl, the king smiled confidently throughout the ceremony and his speech which was punctuated with bursts of laughter.

"This is the first time I have seen such a large number of young girls and Zulu warriors attend a reed dance since I was born," the king said, thanking the estimated 10,000 women.

"We are proud of you and we love you," he said to loud cheers, chants, ululations and spontaneous dances.

He spoke about rape and femicide which plague South Africa.

"Violence against women and children is an embarrassment to our nation," he said. "A woman is to be respected and protected. We must do better as men".

- 'Excited' -

Sixteen-year-old Amahle Shange was making her debut at the festival.

"I am excited to be here for the first time, I can't believe it's finally happening and I'm seeing things I've never seen before," she told AFP.

The "reed dance" was abolished for several years but revived in 1984 by MisuZulu's father.

This year's event is however clouded by an ongoing succession battle.

One faction of the royal family believes MisuZulu is the rightful heir as his late mother, Queen Mantfombi Dlamini Zulu the third queen consort and sister to Eswatini King Mswati III, was a royal princess.

But Prince Simakade, the late king's first-born son who was born out of wedlock, has been championed by dissenting relatives by virtue of being the late king's eldest son.

The king called for "peace and unity (to) prevail in the royal house."

He also extended condolences to King Charles III on the death of Queen Elizabeth II.

"Our history with the British isn't covered in glory," he said. It was his defiant ancestors who inflicted one of the British Empire's worst defeats in 1879 when they fought bloody battles against the British colonisers.

Prior to the reed dance, the participants had their genitalia inspected, a practice condemned by rights advocates who say it is demeaning and an invasion of privacy.

Traditional doctor and virgin inspector Nomagugu Ngobese defended the practice, saying it was accepted across different social classes.

"I've got teachers here, engineers, they have cars; there are attorneys, which goes to prove wrong those who say our culture is outdated," she told AFP.

Y.Watanabe--JT