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Durban - A decision is yet to be made on where King Goodwill Zwelithini's highly anticipated Imbizo will take place in Durban on Monday.
Zulu Royal Household spokesperson Prince Thulani Zulu said on Friday that the meeting may possibly be held at Durban’s Curries Fountain Stadium at 11:00.
“We are not sure at the moment. That is what the Premier had said to me. We are having a meeting tomorrow [Saturday] to finalise everything for Monday,” said Zulu.
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Senzo Mchunu announced on Friday morning that Zwelithini would be holding a meeting with traditional leaders in a bid to address the recent xenophobic attacks.
Mchunu said he had met with the king and he had condemned the attacks.
Mchunu was quoted as saying, "We have met with his majesty twice. He is extremely unhappy. He rejects the attacks. He's expressing concerns at some of the activities carried out by foreigners.”
Zulu said he was expecting around 10 000 people at the Imbizo.
“We are expecting almost 300 Amakhosi’s from around the province and remember they will be coming with izinduna’s as well. But this all depends whether government will provide transport or not. We have received a lot of calls from people who are interested in attending,” said Zulu.
He said the king would finally deal with the issue of xenophobia acroos the country.
“What’s touchy is the attacking of foreign nationals in the country. It’s unacceptable. He wants to restore calm in the province,” said Zulu.
When told that during the peace march on Wednesday there had been several calls for the king to address the people, he said: “You see there are two folds here. Some people will shout for the king to come and calm the situation and others will call for him to face the consequences for his comments.
"What we know about that day is that the king never said that foreign nationals must be attacked.
“We must also not hide the concerns made by the king that our borders are poorly controlled and there are foreign nationals roaming around without fingerprint documents,” said Zulu.
With all due respect, Zulu said, the king could not bow to pressure from the media and go out and address the masses.
“The king held a meeting with [Home Affairs] Minister Malusi Gigaba, [Police Minister] Nathi Nhleko and [State Security Minister] David Mahlobo in Ballito recently where they discussed various things, amongst them the poor border control... Gigaba laid down all the steps that would be taken by government to address the issue.
“The ministers also asked the king to make a contribution to the matter and that is when he said he would call an Imbizo. Now that he has met with government, the king can go and address the masses because he is working with the government. He will finally address the matter on Monday,” said Zulu.
When asked about the SA Human Right’s Commission’s investigation into the king’s comments made recently during a moral regeneration ceremony in Pongola, Zulu said: “Well, we haven’t heard from the South African Human Rights Commission, we are just reading it in the newspaper like everybody else.
“Perhaps what we will do as the monarchy is to approach them and ask them what is going on,” said Zulu.
