“His Majesty will be remembered as a beloved, visionary monarch who has made significant contributions to the cultural identity, national unity and economic development in KwaZulu-Natal and thereby to the development of our country as a whole,” Ramaphosa wrote on Twitter Friday morning.
“Dear President, I humbly request that you suspend the level 1 warning to Covid, we must bury our king as he deserves! He earns far more than 50 people…” Mageba wrote on Twitter.
Lwazi Monyetsane, 33, a Zulu whose family lives in the coastal province of KwaZulu-Natal, told CNN that the deceased monarch deserves a state funeral.
However, Monyetsane fears Covid-19’s security protocols could be ignored by admirers of the departed Zulu king.
“I’m sure the people of KwaZulu will not bother with Covid protocols. The death of a king is a big deal and everyone will want to be a part of it or at least be there,” she said.
“The government will need to be very aware of how it is going forward with the funeral planning. KwaZulu people love King Zwelithini. I will be keeping a close eye on how we deal with it,” added Monyetsane.
Mvangeli Nzuza, 31, from KwaZulu-Natal, also told CNN that King Zwelithini should be given a state funeral – but said this should be done practically to ensure compliance with South Africa’s Covid regulations.
“The whole world should be streaming the funeral,” Nzuza said, adding that “there should be no rules for normal South Africans and another for high-profile individuals.”
King Zwelithini acceded to the throne more than 50 years ago after the death of his father. He is considered the longest-serving Zulu monarch.
The Zulu kingdom, under Zwelithini’s ancestors, resisted an invasion of the territory by British soldiers in the 1800s.
“He was powerful,” Kwena Moabelo, a 46-year-old Johannesburg resident, told CNN. “He was more progressive than his predecessors.”