King should not be political puppet – Mbaks

With the elections fast approaching, the ANC has raised concerns around what it sees as the politicisation of the Zulu monarch – which has significant influence over the Zulu nation.

Addressing an ANC rally in kwaXimba near Cato Ridge on Sunday, ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula spoke of “attempts to use the Zulu monarch for political gain”.

“The ANC has a lot of respect for the Zulu monarch. In the past, the Zulu monarchy lost credibility because people were using him for political reasons. It’s the ANC which rescued the Zulu monarchy from political organisations.

“However, recent developments show that, again, there are attempts to hijack the Zulu royal family. As the ANC, we will not allow that to happen,” he said.

While Mbalula did not go into specifics, it was widely believed that the ANC KwaZulu-Natal leadership was unhappy with Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini’s decision to appoint IFP Zululand district municipality mayor Thulasizwe Buthelezi, who is also an IFP national executive committee member, as the Zulu nation’s prime minister.

Mbalula said the ANC was also worried about “people who have stolen the ANC’s uMkhonto weSizwe logo”. This as former president Jacob Zuma was campaigning

for the new uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party. A week ago, Zuma told the supporters he would campaign for the MK party to save the ANC which, he said, was being led astray by the current ANC leadership.

Mbalula’s kwaXimba visit coincided with the release of an election poll showing ANC support in KZN will drop below 30% in the upcoming polls.