King’s fiancée of eight years kept in right royal style
ZULU King Goodwill Zwelithini’s fiancée, Zola Mafu, lives the good life at taxpayers’ expense.
Even though the 28-yearold does not wear a wedding ring on her finger, she is chauffeur-driven in a Mercedes-Benz E-Class wherever she wants to go and receives a generous monthly allowance.
Her medical aid, travel and living expenses are also paid.
Mafu has yet to walk down the aisle with the monarch — who is 37 years her senior — almost eight years after he paid 20 head of cattle as lobolo for her. That was nine more than was required by her family.
But the Swazi commoner is reaping the same royal ben- efits as the 65-year-old king’s five wives, who are known for their expensive tastes.
Judge Jerome Ngwenya, chairman of the royal household trust, confirmed that Mafu “is, like all other queens, a beneficiary to the trust and her treatment and benefits
The royal household has requested R6-million to convert the king’s farmhouse into a palace for Mafu
are no different”.
He declined to reveal the benefits, referring queries “regarding any other personal details” to the king’s spokesman, Prince Mbonisi Zulu.
The royal household has previously requested R6-million to convert the king’s farmhouse into a palace for Mafu, who is sharing a palace with his third wife, Queen Mantfombi, sister of Swaziland’s King Mswati III.
Mafu was 17 when she was taken from her home in 2003 to be “groomed” by Queen Mantfombi to marry King Zwelithini.
After she fell pregnant, outraged neighbours fined her a cow for violating Swaziland’s prohibition on teenage sex.
The Zulu monarch, who encourages young girls not to have sex before marriage, was reprimanded for impregnating Mafu.
His uncle, Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, jokingly asked him five years ago when he would marry Mafu. The king attributed the delay to the death of Mafu’s father.
But the Swazi Observer blamed the delay on infighting in Mafu’s family over who should benefit from the lobolo.
Mafu is a former pupil of the prestigious St Mark’s High School in Mbabane.
Alumni include South African mining magnate Patrice Motsepe and British-Swazi actor Richard E Grant.