- Queen Mantfombi passed away in a Johannesburg hospital last week at the age of 65, just a month after she took over from her late husband King Goodwill Zwelithini.
JOHANNESBURG – The Zulu royal family has announced the late Queen Mantfombi Dlamini Zulu will be laid to rest on Thursday.
She passed away in a Johannesburg hospital last week, at the age of 65, just a month after she took over from her late husband King Goodwill Zwelithini.
In a statement on behalf of the family, traditional prime minister to the Zulu monarch Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi said the regent queen’s body would be transported from Johannesburg to her royal palace in Nongoma in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday.
The queen will then be interred at dawn on Thursday, in line with her wishes.
A memorial service will be held on Friday.
Meanwhile, as the Zulu royal family mourns the death of the queen, the late King Zwelithini’s first wife is heading to the courts to have her civil marriage recognised as the only legal marriage.
She also wants the late king’s will and testament verified.
The Zulu family has not announced who will succeed the king.
Zulu royal historian Shalo Mbatha said there was no leadership vacuum: “The grandfather of King Zwelithini also left a will that King Zwelithini’s father becomes king. It was the queen who took that will to court to have it mandated. The systems are in place in the Zulu traditional leadership to make sure that everything is in place.”
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