By Zukile Majova
Prince Simakade KaZwelithini’s challenge for the Zulu throne has far-reaching implications for just about every black family in South Africa.
This is a test case, at the highest level, in a country where millions of children lose their dignity and inheritance because they are born out of wedlock.
Prince Simakade is the son of MaMthenjana of Nhlophenkulu village in Nongoma, an ex-girlfriend of the late King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu.
An illegitimate son, he is also the first-born son of His Majesty.
Unlike most “fatherless children” in South Africa, Prince Simakade’s father did not reject him but raised him within the customs and traditions of the Zulu royal family.
His Majesty also paid damages to the Mthenjana family, which is very rare in joint parenting and single-parent situations today.
The King went further than that. He performed the ritual of ukufakwa esiswini which means inserting into the adoptive mother’s womb.
In a case of polygamy, the child would then symbolically be reborn as a child of the wife who gave birth to him or her and be part of her household.
Prince Simakade was officially adopted into the house of the Great Wife, Queen Mantfombi Dlamini kaSobhuza, who is also the mother of King Misuzulu kaZwelithini.
This ceremony is most important because it removes the stigma of the child being an outcast and being referred to as ivezandlebe — a disgraceful description of children born out of wedlock when they go to their father’s home.
It carries troubling connotations that the child is a result of the actions of a loose mother who slept with a married man.
That child’s presence is often seen as a threat to the stability of his father’s marriage.
Millions of children across the country have given up on having relations with their fathers as a direct result of this deep and shameful stigma.
So being the child of a commoner and born out of wedlock, Prince Simakade — being ivezandlebe — has no claim whatsoever to the throne.
But Prince Simakade was raised inside his father’s house, reborn and introduced to his ancestors as a prince and not as ivezandlebe.
This is the argument that he and his backers are presenting in court. The investigative committee that is to be appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa will look into the process of identifying a future king.
Cultural experts will have to outline the rights of an adopted son under these circumstances and determine whether the adopted son has become the first-born son of Queen Mantfombi.
Prince Misuzulu, on the other hand, is the undisputed biological first-born of the Great Wife, Queen Regent Mantfombi, the daughter of King Sobhuza of the Kingdom of eSwatini.
Traditionally royal families across Southern Africa marry among each other to ensure future kings have royal blood from both parents.
Whatever the final interpretation of this complex issue, the Prince Simakade imbroglio will have far-reaching implications for amavezandlebe across the land.
Pictured above: Prince Simakade KaZwelithini.
Image source: X
