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Durban — King Goodwill Zwelithini is hoping to build his eighth palace — and the location would involve cutting down 20 hectares of indigenous bush in a heritage park.
The palace, which will be paid for with “private Zulu royal family funds”, reports The Mercury, will be close to the burial grounds of his royal ancestors in the eMakhosini Valley (Valley of the Kings) near Ulundi.
Taxpayers currently pay at least R63m a year for the upkeep of the royal household, the newspaper stated.
Although a trust was set up in 2009 to take some of the financial burden off taxpayers, the trust is still not fully operational four years later.
Emakhosini is the birthplace of King Shaka and the burial ground of royal predecessors going back as far as the 1600s.
Earlier this month, the Sunday Tribune reported that Zwelithini was set to marry his sixth wife — Swazi princess Zola Zelusiwe kaMafu.
Zwelithini chose kaMafu when she was 17 years old though she is now 28. — News24
derick.khumalo