Zulu king wants to purge violent spirits

2012-11-06 13:05

King Goodwill Zwelithini at the Public Peace Process meeting held at the ICC in Durban last week. Picture: Khaya Ngwenya/City Press

Johannesburg - Zulu monarch King Goodwill Zwelithini plans to hold a traditional ceremony to halt political violence in KwaZulu-Natal, The Times reported on Tuesday.

This would involve cleansing his male subjects of the spirits that cause violence.

"The king will first meet the council of traditional leaders on [Thursday]," his spokesperson Prince Mbonisi Zulu told the newspaper.

"The details about the cleansing of men will come from their meeting."

It was important for the king to meet traditional leaders, because the ritual would involve people in the clans, he said.

The ritual, known as "ukukhumelana umlotha" (the sharing of ash) was likely to be performed next month, if the king got his way.

It reportedly aimed to persuade men to forsake their political differences in favour of their tribal links.

- SAPA