Zulu king praises minority

South Africa's powerful Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini has praised the former apartheid regime, the local Mercury newspaper reports. Speaking at his palace at the weekend to celebrate 44 years on the throne, the monarch said the white-led regime had built a powerful government with the strongest economy and army in Africa, but then came “this so-called democracy” in which black people started destroying the gains of the past, the newspaper quotes him as saying.

King Zwelithini said black people “loved to use matches” to burn down infrastructure built during apartheid, and history would judge them harshly for failing to build on the successes of the former regime.

King Zwelithini was linked to the former homeland system, and was a staunch opponent of the African National Congress (ANC), the former liberation movement now in power. 

President Jacob Zuma, a Zulu, played a key role in persuading him to accept democratic rule, and to drop his demand for a Zulu kingdom.