President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that Inkatha Freedom Party founder Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who passed away at the age of 95, will receive a Special Official Funeral Category 1 (state funeral) in Ulundi in KwaZulu-Natal. The funeral will include military honours and flags across the country will be flown at half-mast until the day of the funeral, following the government’s State Funeral Policy

Buthelezi who also served as the Zulu Traditional Prime Minister had been admitted to the St Augustine Private Hospital in Durban in KZN, since the end of July, after complaining of back problems. His stay at the hospital was prolonged when Buthelezi was accidentally burnt in his ICU bed when nurses gave him a hot water bottle to warm him up, but it ended bursting and burning his arm. He was one of the longest serving Members of Parliament since the dawn of democracy in 1994. Buthelezi was also the first Minister of Home Affairs post democracy.

On Monday the IFP announced that the party will host a memorial service for uMntwana wakwaPhindangene at the Ulundi Amphitheatre on Wednesday morning. In a statement, family spokesperson Dr Ngqengelele Buthelezi said, “We would like to extend our deepest appreciation to President Ramaphosa for a declaring a special official funeral ,Category 1 for Buthelezi. Following the declaration, having considered all the logistics involved, a decision had been taken to hold the funeral on Saturday 16 September,” he said.