Zulu queen sings the anti-GBV blues
● Zulu Queen Ntokozo Mayisela let her jazz diva prowess do the talking for her at a Women’s Day event in Durban this week.
Accompanied by an entourage of women, the queen arrived fashionably late for the event at the Westville campus of the University of KwaZulu-Natal for one of her first public engagements as queen.
She wept unashamedly when poet Lucy Mbali recited a poem written in her honour that lauded her modesty and the way she has inspired the subjects of Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini.
The royal couple met in 2009 at the wedding of the king’s sister, Princess Bukhosibemvelo, to the late Sipho Nyawo, a former Transnet CEO.
Queen Ntokozo sang on that occasion too, and it is said the king was captivated by her voice.
They officially registered their marriage last year and held their traditional umembeso ceremony at the queen’s home in Newcastle earlier this year.
She performed traditional songs and dances.
According to Zulu culture it is customary for a king to marry before he ascends to the throne. King Misuzulu underwent the traditional coronation ceremony last month.
This week, instead of engaging in dialogue about issues plaguing women, the queen expressed her feelings about violence against women through song.
She belted out a rendition of soul singer Loyiso Gijana’s Madoda Sabelani — one of SA’s unofficial anthems against genderbased violence (GBV) — which had every woman in the room on her feet.
For Queen Ntokozo the event marked a return to her alma mater, where she earned a diploma in jazz and popular music.
“I was a student at Howard College where I did my diploma in jazz and music. I can relate to the university’s emblem,” she told her audience.
The university’s logo, according to a university website, symbolises an institution “rooted in and responsive to Africa’s unique qualities, challenges, diversities and strengths while nurturing and protecting African scholarship”.
The queen said: “It means a lot to be invited here … this was special.”
She described the work of her foundation, named after her late father, Masikolo Mayisela, through which she has introduced programmes to empower youngsters in rural communities.
One of the initiatives, the In-Between Girls programme, focuses on teenage mothers. “We deal with teenage girls, who are parents but yet so young they don’t know where they belong. There are situations that the Lord will put you through that will force you to leave your comfort zone,” she said.
Queen Ntokozo urged her audience to do what they could to help the less privileged.
“You don’t help your neighbours for show … you do it for yourself because you don’t know when you will need them.
“You may be [up] today and [down] tomorrow, maybe you will need to draw strength from the same people you helped one day,” she said.
Professor Fikile Mazibuko, interim senior director of student services at the university, told the queen in her closing remarks: “We feel safe. You look into the other side of a human being.”
Mazibuko praised the government for recognising “our diverse kingdoms”.
“The cultures are embedded in the Bill of Rights. We are extremely grateful that constitutional monarchies are accepted in the country.”