King Goodwill Zwelithini’s palaces cost a fortune to maintain, but what, asks Ann Eveleth, is to be done?
KING Goodwill Zwelithini’s financial affairs appear likely to come under close r scrutiny in coming months as the Inkatha Freedom Party tightens the screws i n a renewed effort to bring the monarch to heel.
Efforts by the party’s KwaZulu-Natal leadership to force the monarch to re-rec ognise its leader, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, as his “traditional prime minister” s cuttled plans for royal celebrations this month and the latest “battle royale” is far from over.
The African National Congress has committed itself to a three-way process aime d at “normalising” relations between the monarch and the IFP, but the IFP has seized the opportunity to push for the monarch to completely undo his dramatic 1994 “severing of ties” with the party.
The monarch is understood to be “adamantly opposed” to Buthelezi’s re-appointm ent, but the IFP is holding his 25th anniversary silver jubilee celebrations t o ransom. Initially planned for early December, the event was postponed “indef initely” after the provincial government refused to release funds for the R2,5 -million event.
The impasse also coincided neatly with recent disclosures by Premier Frank Mdl alose that renovations at two of the monarch’s palaces would cost taxpayers mo re than R6-million.
Despite its political underbelly, the announcement struck a chord with politic ians across the political spectrum as recent debates over the monarch’s R17-mi llion budget have brought the costs of tradition into sharp focus in the provi nce.
Provincial politicians agree the royal budget must be consolidated into one de partment and rationalised to avoid the kind of wastage highlighted by recent r eports from the auditor general that nearly R4-million had been spent on palac e curtains and household equipment as part of a government spending spree for ministerial residences including R575 teapots and other wildly priced purchase s now unde r investigation.
While provincial politicians agree better controls on purchasing could help re duce the royal budget, some went further to call for drastic cuts in the wake of the palace repair bill.
Provincial MECs, however, threw their weight behind the renovations following an inspection visit last month, and the provincial Cabinet approved the unauth orised overspending of R600 000.
Criticism of the rising maintenance costs for the monarch’s five extended fami lies, six palaces and private education costs for some of his 25 children cut across political lines, but the parties are divided over the remedy. The issue is further complicated by the adage “he who pays the piper names the tune” as
political pressures and racial and cultural differences factor into the equat
ion.
Zwelithini’s successors are likely to face pressure from some quarters to curb the size of their families or generate their own incomes as government contin
ues to grapple with these costs.
Already some minority politicians are calling for some of the palaces to be sh ut down or financed by “the Zulu people”.
Democratic Party MP Wessel Nel has said the government should support “one dec ent residence” for the monarch and his family, rather than the current six, ma ny of which are “beginning to look quite shabby”.
While the Cabinet inspection doused the myth of a marble- floored bathroom sai d to have been under construction at the monarch’s Lindizulu palace, the rumou r highlighted a perception that taxpayers are funding a life of royal luxury.
The most glamorous of the six royal palaces, the R3-million Ondini residence p erched on an Ulundi hilltop, lends credence to this view.
Adorned by bronze elephants on either side of the wrought-iron gate, the brown -brick palace has featured in Garden and Home magazine as well as the SABC’s n ow-terminated 6 on 1 equivalent to the United States’ Lifestyles of the Rich a nd Famous.
Ondini has, however, remained vacant since its completion in 1994 following po litical tensions between the monarch and Buthelezi, whose homeland government initiated the project.
The monarch and his families live in the other five palaces – each occupied by a different wife – dotting the hillsides of Nongoma. In stark contrast to Ond
ini’s elegance, these humbler residences include traditional kraals, middle-cl ass suburban-style homes and faded European-style villas suffering from leakin g roofs, peeling paint and general deterioration. His present office outside N ongoma is poorly-equipped with telephones and a fax machine that rarely function.
There is wide agreement on the need for repairs to the residences, and Mdlalos e admitted after the inspection the repairs were “very reasonable”. Although t he current R6-million expenditure comes from provincial public works money, th e national Department of Public Works reportedly estimated full renovations wo uld cost R14-million.
The current renovations include painting, roof repairs, converting existing st ructures into an office at a central Nongoma palace and construction of a gues t house.
While critics of the monarchy question the need for so many palaces, royal fam ily members say this ignores their “rich historical value” and the monarch’s e xtensive familial obligations.
“His majesty did not simply ask for six palaces,” explained the king’s legal a dviser, S’dumo Mathe. “KwaDlamahlala was built by Zwelithini’s grandfather, Ki ng Solomon, while Kheta-omthondayo belonged to his father, King Cyprian.”
“The only palace built by the present monarch is Enyokeni. KwaKhangela was bui lt by the KwaZulu Government and Lindizulu was inherited from the old commissi oner general in 1994 after he vacated the king’s land.”
Other royal family members say the monarch also maintains the widowed queens o f King Cyprian, and countless dependents of royal lineage for whom he bears re sponsibility on a salary that is “less than what a premier or MEC earns,” Math e said.
The DP’s Nel agreed the problems were wider than the Zulu monarch: “Look at th e R40-million proposal for a House of Traditional Leaders’ chamber. It’s madne ss when we don’t have money for education and crime-fighting. It’s a body that meets occasionally for one day,” he said.
While political parties agree the royal budget must be brought in line with ec onomic realities in the province, they differ on how this should be done.
ANC provincial transport MEC S’bu Ndebele pointed out that R9-million of the a nnual royal budget is security costs – the need for which was highlighted duri ng the recent attack on a KwaMashu royal family home – and said the criticism of “some white parties borders on racism. Nobody complained about PW Botha’s m ultiple residences scattered around the country. They also supported their not ion of Zul u culture all these years and backed some of the IFP’s more outrageous proposa ls for the monarchy. Now they don’t want to pay the cost it implies.”
Nel said the problem centres on the province’s failure to define the role of t he king which would lay the foundation for a realistic costing of his budget: “We [the DP] believe he is the cultural leader of the Zulus who are the majori ty in this province, so we should support him to a reasonable extent, but the rest must be paid for by the Zulu people,” he said.