KING EYES PALACE COUP
But farmers dig in to halt mansion
KING Goodwill Zwelithini’s palaces cost taxpayers a bomb.
Since 2011, when a major palace refurbishment drive was launched, the fiscus has forked out more than R50-million on his royal residences.
King Zwelithini has seven palaces, most of them built during apartheid by Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
Five palaces, including King Zwelithini’s main residence Enyokeni — where the annual reed dance is held — are in or around the northern KwaZulu-Natal town of Nongoma.
Another palace was built at Ingwavuma on the border of Swaziland and the seventh, Ondini, in Ulundi, was rebuilt in 1993.
Financial statements of the KwaZulu-Natal department of the royal household show that R8-million was spent on the palaces in the 2011-12 financial year, R15-million in 2012-13 and R15-million in 2013-14. The bulk of these funds came from extra allocations to the royal household budget of more than R50-million a year.
In 2014, King Zwelithini married his sixth wife, 28-year-old Queen Zola Mafu, in a two-day ceremony at Ondini that cost almost R4-million.
Some R3-million was spent on refurbishing Ondini royal palace. This included building two new rondavels, new palisade fencing and lighting.
The same year the royal household ran out of money, its liabilities exceeding assets by R3.3-million, which prompted King Zwelithini to ask for a bailout.
The provincial treasury gave him R2-million extra in 2015.
Last year, then-premier Senzo Mchunu implemented reforms to rein in royal spending.
This year, he slashed the royal household budget to R48.8-million, from R57.6million the previous year.
The royal household department became a chief directorate in the premier’s office, giving the province’s director-general and chief financial officer direct control of its finances.
A treasury team was appointed to assess the palaces and a unit was set up to oversee renovations.
A provincial source said these reforms resulted in only R8-million being allocated for palace renovations last year, only half of which was spent.
A further R8-million is expected to be spent on the palaces in the next financial year.