Meet Princess Sihle Mdluli, the potential mother of the Zulu nation. Picture: Supplied.
The Zulu royal family has been introduced to King Misuzulu kaZwelithini’s new bride-to-be, who has been described as a potential mother of the Zulu nation.
Princess Sihle Mdluli from the Mdluli royal family in Mpumalanga is said to be in her early 20s and is spending her second week in one of the king’s palaces on the north-east of the KwaZulu-Natal.
Her presence was confirmed by the king’s representative Prince Gumbela Zulu who said she had been formally introduced to him and other royal family members.
“Yes she is currently in the royal kraal and we are waiting for the king to give us direction as to whether she would become the mother of the nation. You must remember that as much as the king can marry as many wives as he can, one of them must be the mother of the nation who will give birth to the heir, like it happened to himself and her lobola must be paid by the Zulu nation. Once the king and royal family have satisfied themselves that she is fit for the purpose, he will then ask me or his traditional prime minister to ask for contributions from his subjects to pay the lobola,” said Zulu.
According to a source in the royal family, Princess Mdluli was present during the final ritual of the Umkhosi Wokweshwama ceremony which was held last week at the new palace, Emashobeni.
The source said she was among the group of women wearing the Ndebele traditional attire doing traditional dance, however, he said very few people noticed her. The source further stated that she was introduced to the king by her royal family to build a relationship with the Zulu nation.
Weighing in on the process of facilitation by the Mdluli royal family to marry the king, KwaZulu-Natal University-based cultural expert, Professor Sihawu Ngubane said historically this has been a practice where different tribes would want to forge relationships with each other by exchanging daughters to marry inkosi or the king.
He said this was a strategy, particularly by the weaker tribes to neutralise the aggressive tribes which may want to launch an attack on them - as that would no longer be possible after creating relationships using their daughters.
Ngubane added that the process was also done for commercial purposes where a poor tribe would want to smooth trading relations with the mineral-rich tribes.
“This is historical. Even in the biblical times. King Solomon’s wives were mainly princesses from other tribes. Since the Israelites were a powerful and feared nation, weaker tribes wanted protection and traded with their girls to achieve peace and protection,” said Ngubane.