South Africa’s Zulu queen failed to stop the monarch’s third marriage

The first wife of South Africa’s Zulu king, Missuzulu kaZwelitini, has failed in her legal bid to stop his plans to take a third wife.

Queen Ntakozo kaMaisela addressed the court ahead of the wedding, which was due to take place later this week.

But despite the ruling, it’s unclear whether the wedding will go ahead as planned.

On Saturday, South African media quoted a letter from the king as saying the ceremony was canceled “for reasons beyond the control of the royal household”.

Polygamous marriages are recognized in South Africa, but only if they are registered as common-law marriages.

This latest row comes amid a series of scandals that have befallen the Missusulu king since he came to power just over two years ago.

The Zulu king has no formal political power, and the monarch’s role in South African society is largely ceremonial, but he remains highly influential with an annual state budget of several million dollars.

Before ascending the throne, the king married Maisela in a civil marriage in 2021.

In her legal arguments heard at the high court on Monday, the Queen, through her lawyer, said the King could not marry anyone else as their marriage was still valid.

Under South African law, a civil marriage must either be dissolved or converted to a traditional union before a man can take a wife.

It is unclear why the marriage contract was not an issue when the king took a second wife, Queen Nozizwe Mulela-Zulu, back in 2022. But, according to the weekly newspaper of South Africa, Sunday World, with reference to the letter that the queen wrote to the elders of the Zulu royal house, the couple agreed to convert their marriage from civil to traditional.

Given the option of either divorcing and remarrying or applying for conversion by their legal team, the duo apparently decided to do the latter, but the Missuzulu king “decided to change his mind” for unknown reasons, the Queen reportedly said.

Dismissing an application on Monday to end the king’s marriage to Namzam Myeni, Justice Bongani Mngadi said that since the queen had already agreed to the idea that her husband could marry other women, she could not prevent the ceremony from taking place.

Despite the letter’s announcement, as well as the king’s lawyer in court, who said the wedding would not take place, conflicting statements also appeared.

South African news site TimesLIVE reports that the bride-to-be said she knew nothing about the letter and that as far as she understood, her wedding would go ahead as originally planned.

According to another news site, IOL, which reportedly spoke to the couple, the king insisted he loved Myeni and would “marry her by force”.

Following his coronation in October 2022, some of the decisions made by the Missusulu king have been controversial.

In December, he illegally suspended the Ingonyama Trust, which owns and controls vast tracts of communal land in KwaZulu-Natal, which is supposed to be for the benefit and well-being of the king-led communities in the region.

The King of Missuzulu is the sole trustee and chairman of the trust, but has no power to hire or fire board members.

He also recently quickly sacked two close aides, including his traditional prime minister, in quick succession – moves that have raised eyebrows among royal watchers.

Misuzulu’s position as king has also been questioned by some, and there is currently a court case challenging the state’s recognition of him as a monarch.

He ascended the throne earlier than expected after his father, King Goodwill Zwelitini, died during the Covid pandemic in March 2021 from complications related to diabetes.

Zwelitini was the longest-reigning monarch of the Zulu nation, serving on the throne for nearly 50 years.