Keeping the king happy - aides reveal all
KZN state officials have poured out their hearts about the lengths they have to go to please King Goodwill and his royal household.
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Durban - KwaZulu-Natal government officials have poured out their hearts about the lengths they have to go to please King Goodwill Zwelithini and his royal household.
They told of how they found themselves in “discomfort” when they were sometimes accused of treating the princes and princesses differently.
Some of the officials, especially the drivers, find themselves on the road for more than 24 hours at a stretch, ferrying the royal household.
The aides also run around in search of anything, often in quantity, ordered by the king.
The difficulties facing public officials serving the royal family were laid bare when the KwaZulu-Natal premier and royal household met on Tuesday to receive reports on several issues.
The king has six wives, about 40 children and five palaces.
Apart from his R1.1 million salary, the KZN government allocates more than R50m towards the upkeep of the royal family.
Speaking at the committee meeting, acting director-general, Frikkie Brooks, said officials went out of their way to support the princes and the princesses.
“We pay for their tuition, their accommodation and a whole range of others.
“We actually have a policy of what we do and how to help,” Brooks told lawmakers.
“At times we have discomfort when you have to arrange a three-bedroom flat for the one, and the other one gets a two-bedroom flat.
“We are being accused that one is getting more than the other. Those are the unfortunate things,” he said.
However, Brooks said the provincial government had a substantial support programme available for the royal household.
“We can easily share exactly what the details are what we do spend on abantwana (king’s children),” he said.
Brooks made these statements when the IFP’s Blessed Gwala remarked that “there is something brewing with regard to abantwana”.
Ziphathe Cibane, chief financial officer of the royal household, said they had to deal with his welfare and that could include the queens and his children.
“Where the king is involved we deal with his welfare and it may include abantwana and queens,” Cibane said.
He also said when the royal household ran short of vehicles in Nongoma, vehicles were requested from Pietermaritzburg.
“Irrespective of the short notice, we have not been let down in those circumstances.
To support this, he cited the amaganu (Amarula Festival) at the weekend when drivers drove for 24 hours. Cibane said it was not easy to manage activities in the royal household.
“You might find in some cases that the king ordered something on this end and on this end.
“In some cases, you are not even certain of the quantity,” he said.
“You need a truck, it is small and you must add another, so it becomes a cumbersome process,” Cibane added.
Mchunu also told the committee a brand new vehicle had been delivered for the king last November.
“It is not true that the last premier who bought a vehicle for the king was former premier S’bu Ndebele,” he said, in response to a question from Gwala.
In April last year, he said, he had delivered six Mercedes-Benz cars for the queens and another for the queen mother.
Mchunu said they had been bought outright rather than by lease arrangement, which had previously proved costly.
Daily News