The New Zulu On September 23, 1974, King Misuzulu Sinqobile kaZwelithini entered the world. Firstborn to the magnificent Queen Mantfombi Dlamini, he is also the third-oldest surviving son of King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu.

 

 

 

 

 

King Misuzulu became the next monarch after his father passed away on March 12, 2021. While Misuzulu was formally named the next Zulu king after Shaka’s death, his ceremonial coronation as ruler of the Zulu people did not take place until August 20, 2022, after the kraal initiation ceremony (ukungena esibayeni).

After finishing elementary school in his mother’s native Eswatini, King Misuzulu attended St. Charles College in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. A day before his mother’s funeral on May 6, 2021, King Misuzulu wed Ntokozo Mayisela.

Princess Bukhosibemvelo, sister of King Misuzulu, and former Transnet CEO Sipho Nyawo initially met at their wedding in August 2009. On May 13, 2021, King Misuzulu sent a delegation to Mayisela’s home to negotiate and pay lobola, a traditional wedding gift in the Zulu culture. Reports state that eight cows and fifty thousand South African rand were inside the lobola.

When King Mswati III of Eswatini wed Queen Nozizwe Mulela, she became his second queen from that country. The wedding itself has not taken place yet, but lobola and other cultural rites have been carried out. The king and his second queen have no surviving children.