South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday condoled the Zulu royal family and nation following the untimely death of Queen Shiyiwe Mantfombi Dlamini Zulu, the Regent of the Zulu nation, on Thursday.
Paying his homage to the departed Regent, Ramaphosa said all South Africans “stand by the royal family and the nation in this hour of compounded grief.”
“We extend our thoughts, prayers and hearts once more to the royal family who, in the midst of mourning the passing of the beloved King, are now called upon to bid farewell to the Regent in, sadly, short succession.”
Announcing the death on Thursday night, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi said the regent’s passing a month after her husband, King Goodwill Zwelithini ka Bhekuzulu died on 12 March aged 72, had shocked the Zulu nation.
Buthelezi, who is also the traditional prime minister to the Zulu monarch and nation, said the regent’s death “has taken us by surprise and left us utterly bereft.”
NM/jn/APA