Sharjah 24 – BNA: Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, who was praised by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa as a “visionary monarch”, died on Friday.
Zwelithini, who was 72, died in hospital, the royal family said. He had been admitted to hospital in KwaZulu-Natal province last month to be treated for diabetes.
Though his role was largely ceremonial, Zwelithini was revered by his people and had vast influence over millions of Zulus.
Ramaphosa hailed his contribution to national unity and economic development in KwaZulu-Natal and South Africa as a whole, and the opposition Democratic Alliance party called Zwelithini “a hugely important and influential figure on our political and cultural landscape for the past five decades”.
Zwelithini was officially crowned the eighth monarch of South Africa’s largest ethnic group in 1971, after going into hiding fearing assassination when his father died in 1968.
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