By Enyichukwu Enemanna
South Africa’s Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini has called off his planned wedding to his third wife-to-be, Nomzamo Myeni, which was earlier scheduled to take place on 24 and 26 January.
In a letter to the director-general in the office of the premier in KwaZulu-Natal, Nonhlanhla Mkhize, King kaZwelithini said that, due to reasons beyond the control of the royal house, the traditional ceremonies involving Myeni have been called off.
“As a result, it has become necessary to terminate all associated arrangements. The following actions must be implemented without delay: effective immediately, any benefits, allowances, or privileges granted to Myeni must be ceased. Secondly, the security detail assigned to Myeni is to be withdrawn by no later than 11:00 on Sunday, 19 January,” the king said.
In May 2024, King kaZwelithini had paid the dowry for Myeni at a ceremony held in Makhonyeni Village in Jozini, north of KwaZulu-Natal.
The Zulu king’s first wife, Queen Ntokozo kaMayisela, approached the court to interdict the wedding.
However, her bid to stop the wedding failed, as the court ruled that King kaZwelithini could go ahead with the plan to take a third wife.
Polygamous marriages are recognised in South Africa but only if they are registered as customary weddings.
This latest row comes amid a series of scandals that have hit the king since he came to power just over two years ago.
Before he was enthroned, the king had married his first wife, Mayisela, in 2021 in a civil marriage.
In her legal argument in the High Court on Monday, the queen, through her lawyer, said that the king could not marry anyone else as their marriage was still in force.
Under South African law, a civil marriage must either be dissolved or converted to a traditional union before a man can take any more wives.
In rejecting the application to halt the king’s marriage to Nomzamo Myeni, Judge Bongani Mngadi said that, as the queen had already consented to the idea that her husband could marry other women, she could not prevent a ceremony from taking place.
Last year, according to what was said in court on Monday, the royal couple had agreed to convert their civil marriage to a traditional one.
However, since then, the king has applied for a divorce, saying that their relationship had broken down.
Multiple sources said that, as part of the divorce settlement, the king proposed paying his first wife monthly maintenance of R20,000 for one year.
Court documents also indicate that the king and his estranged first wife have lived apart for over a year.
