Zulu King opens palaces to tourists
Revenue raised will be used for development
‘‘ I’ve elected to launch initiatives that will enhance my people
Zulu king Zwelithini is opening up his palaces to tourists, much like Buckingham Palace in London, to raise funds for nine new development projects.
The monarch announced the investment project at eNyokeni palace, where a lavish birthday celebration was held on Friday. Among those in attendance were Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Zweli Mkhize, ACDP leader Kenneth Meshoe and mining mogul Patrice Motsepe.
The projects include a Disney-styled cultural theme park. The project is in line with the KZN government’s plan mooted more than a decade ago to use the Zulu monarch as a tourist attraction to raise funds to maintain his lavish lifestyle but which did not materialise.
The idea was to promote Zulu royalty and turn the palaces into a tourist paradise where people could share an audience with the monarch.
In Britain, thousands of tourists flock to Buckingham Palace every year as guests to banquets, lunches, dinners, receptions and the royal garden parties, all of which generate thousands of pounds in revenue for the royal household. Zwelithini said it was a shame that the provincial government had failed to fulfill this dream.
“Today, I open all the gates of my palaces,” the king said.
“While Ì know they were open to Zulu people for cultural heritage purposes since time immemorial, today I open them to address some of the economic imperatives in our country, particularly for the rural political economy.”
The king’s palaces are Ondini, kwaLinduzulu, eNyokeni, oSuthu, kwaDlamahlahla, kwaKhangela and kwaKhetha.
A King Shaka theme park modelled on the Disney amusement park but with a Zulu slant will be built in the mountains of Osuthu next to the Umfolozi River.
It will include a cultural village, hotels, vacation club properties, a retail, dining and entertainment complex, a sports complex, conference centres, camp grounds, golf courses, water parks and a shopping mall.
King Zwelithini, the longest serving Zulu monarch and most pampered among South Africa’s kings, described this as “the biggest investment project that will change the economic dynamics of the Zulu kingdom”.
“While I am supposed to be pampered with gifts and praises as I celebrate 70 years, I’ve elected to launch initiatives that will not only enhance my people economically but will also play a pivotal role in economic and social cohesion,” said the king.
The king, who has courted controversy for his lavish lifestyle, has come under the spotlight over an unfinished reed dance venue that has been plagued by cost overruns that could end up with a price tag of R1-billion.
At a gala dinner later at kwaLinduzulu palace to celebrate his 70th birthday, the king’s guests were treated to starters of chicken breasts stuffed with spinach.
The main course had butter chicken curry, oven roast lamb infused in garlic and rosemary, slow-cooked oxtail with veggies, braised chicken feet, white plain rice, basmati rise, traditional samp, home-made steamed bread, amadumbe, sweet potatoes, fresh mealies and steamed butternut.
They also tucked into caramelised and sliced beetroot salad with sweet and sour source, potato salad and crunchy garden salad with feta and olives. The dessert included assorted cakes, homemade malva pudding, creamy custard sauce, ice cream and seasonal fresh fruit skewers drizzled in ginger sauce.