South Africa's Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini dies aged 72

Zulu leader ascended the throne in 1971 during the apartheid era

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  The Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini celebrates his 51st birthday along with his grandchildren at the Lindizulu palace in Nongoma, about 300 kilometres from the South African capital Durban, on July 24, 1999. AFP

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  Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini and Zulu Queen Ma Ndlovu and Zulu warriors watching Thuthuku Nxumalo, a 3-year-old Zulu dancer, during the second day of the revival of the age-old hunting ceremony that began with the great Zulu King Shaka. AFP

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  Queen Elizabeth II looks up at Zulu King Zwelithini as he presents her a replica of a cup given to King Cetshwayo by Queen Victoria in 1882, at a luncheon in Durban, South Africa, on March 25, 1995. AFP

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  Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi sits next to King Goodwill Zwelithini at the City Hall of Durban on July 9, 2016. AFP

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  South African President Nelson Mandela greets Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini after his arrival in Nongoma on January 19, 1996. AFP

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  Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini attends an annual reed dance in Ludzidzini, Swaziland, on August 29, 2005. AFP

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  Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini watches a re-enactment of the Battle of Isandluana in Dundee, South Africa, on January 25, 2019. EPA

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  Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini prepares to deliver a speech during a traditional gathering called Imbizo at the Moses Mabhida Football Stadium in Durban on April 20, 2015. AFP

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  Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini, accompanied by the chairman of the FIFA technical team, Alan Rothenberg, waves to some 60,000 football fans at Durban's Kings Park stadium during a local match on March 12, 2000 as part of an inspection tour for South Africa's bid to host the World Cup. AFP

Goodwill Zwelithini, the controversial but revered king of South Africa's Zulus, died on Friday aged 72 after weeks in hospital, his palace announced.

The king wielded great influence among millions of Zulus through his largely ceremonial and spiritual role despite having no official power in modern South Africa.

"It is with the utmost grief that I inform the nation of the passing of His Majesty King Goodwill Zwelithini ... King of the Zulu nation," the palace said in a statement signed by Mangosuthu Buthelezi, a Zulu prince and a powerful veteran politician.

The king was admitted to hospital last month for diabetes.

"Tragically, while still in hospital, his majesty's health took a turn for the worse and he subsequently passed away in the early hours of this morning," the palace said.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa issued a message of condolence lauding the late king for his contribution to the country.

"His majesty will be remembered as a much-loved, visionary monarch who made an important contribution to cultural identity, national unity and economic development in KwaZulu-Natal and through this, to the development of our country as a whole," Mr Ramaphosa said on Twitter.

Born in Nongoma, a small town in KwaZulu-Natal province, Zwelithini was crowned the eighth Zulu monarch in 1971 during the apartheid era, three years after the death of his father. Zwelithini was 23 years old.

The Zulus are South Africa's largest ethnic group with more than 11 million people.

Traditional rulers play a largely symbolic role in modern South Africa, where they are constitutionally recognised.

Under the white-minority regime that ended in 1994, kings ruled homelands where most black people were confined to defuse broader national struggles.

In 2015, Zwelithini gained international notoriety for anti-foreigner remarks suggesting immigrants were responsible for rising lawlessness in South Africa and that they needed to be kicked out.

The remarks were blamed for inflaming a spate of xenophobic attacks on mostly African migrants, which left seven dead, thousands displaced and revived memories of xenophobic bloodshed in 2008, when 62 people were killed.

Zwelithini later denied whipping up xenophobic sentiments, saying his remarks were taken out of context.

"If it was true I said people must kill each other, the whole country would [have been] reduced to ashes," he said.

A descendent of the all-powerful Shaka, who ruled the Zulu nation until his assassination in 1828, Zwelithini was the most prominent among a handful of traditional rulers who hold sway over emotive issues such as land ownership in South Africa.

In 2018, he sought an exemption for nearly three million hectares of royal land that the government wanted to expropriate for redistribution to landless marginalised black people sidelined by apartheid.

As the sole trustee of 2.8 million hectares of land through the Ingonyama Trust, he wanted his land to be left untouched, warning "all hell will break loose" if its ownership was challenged.

Three years ago, the outspoken king courted controversy when he spoke in support of corporal punishment, saying it helped pupils perform better in school.

In 1994, he sparked fears of a secessionist conflict when he rallied between 20,000 and 50,000 stick-wielding men, most of them supporters of the Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), to march through Johannesburg to support his call for sovereignty ahead of the country's first democratic election.

The marchers engaged in a firefight outside the headquarters of the IFP's main rival, the now-ruling African National Congress, leaving 42 people dead.

Zwelithini enjoyed the trappings of his royal status, receiving more than 60 million rand ($4m) in yearly allowances from the state to help fund a lifestyle that included several royal palaces, six wives and more than 28 children.