Buthelezi a role model for Zulu monarchy

HOW wonderful it was to hear the conventional prime minister of the kingdom of Amazulu, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, saying, la ekhaya (here at home) when referring to the household of Zwelithini, late king of the Amazulu.

It goes to show the degree to which African social systems are more advanced than any other grouping of humans. Again, it illustrates vividly how Buthelezi identifies with the Zulu kingship, having grown up among the princes and princesses and become an integral part of the royal system.

Yet, it should be said that the great throne of Zulu, and the kingdom itself, have good reasons to honour and respect Buthelezi and all he has done for the nation.

Suffice to say, if Buthelezi wanted to usurp the throne and undermine the kings, he would have done it easily and there would have been no reason for the late king and his late wife to place on his hands the task of overseeing the royal transition.

Even former presidents Nelson Mandela and Thabo Mbeki showed tremendous respect for Buthelezi. But it is the manner he has carried himself, and his endurance amid tragedies and honours that make him a man of honour and finesse.

For the Zulu crown, and as a royal himself, Buthelezi ensured dignity and prestige as well as political prowess and adaptability in political pedagogy.

Buthelezi has always had a good temperament – even when he lost his children and his wife – and did not become embarrassed to have a black foreigner as a son-in-law.

He even warned the ANC and South Africa about the ascendency of Jacob Zuma into the Presidency, which fell on deaf ears.

Above all, Buthelezi has not been ashamed to associate himself with Christianity. Without a doubt, he is a role model for royal princes and a great royal official to the Zulu kingship and nation, the descendants of Mnguni and siblings of Sotho and others as abantu-batho. Let us be one as the Lord our God is one.

| KHOTSO K.D MOLEKO Mangaung, Bloemfontein