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S.Africa’s Zulu king caught up in xenophobia blame game

– Warrior gear –

President Jacob Zuma is himself a Zulu and regularly swaps suits for full warrior gear, engaging in tribal dances during traditional ceremonies in his village.

He and the king also follow other traditional practices, such as polygamy — each has married six times and has more than 20 children.

While there are again mutterings about the cost of supporting so many spouses of the powerful, Madlala points out that South Africa gets away easily compared to the impoverished taxpayers in neighbouring Swaziland.

There King Mswati III, Africa’s last absolute monarch, has an annual household budget of around $60 million in a country where about 60 percent of the population live on less than $1 a day.

His government is regularly accused of stifling dissent and jailing opponents — whereas the constitutional recognition granted to South Africa’s kings is subject to their adherence to the country’s human rights laws.

Zwelithini, a descendent of the all-powerful Shaka — who ruled the Zulu nation until his assassination in 1828 — appears to have recognised that by distancing himself from the violence meted out to foreigners.

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