Zulu King causes a professor to stick to South Africa

The large Zulu community of the King of South Africa challenged a professor and cultural expert in battle with sticks, saying he was offended, along with the entire Zulu nation.

King Misululu Kazelitini issued the challenge of Prof. Musa Sulu in front of thousands of people who gathered in his newly built royal palace for the annual reed dance.

“We are angry and we will do everything to protect and preserve our cultures,” he said, according to the Timelive news site.

Prof. Kesulu told the BBC that he had taken the King’s personal challenge as a joke, but he said he was worried about his safety if he was attacked by another Zulus.

“I received threats from hired killers,” he said, adding that he had filed an official complaint with the police.

King Misuzulu did not specify exactly what Prof. Ksulu said to be angry, but he was quoted, saying, “It hurts me to see another man tell me how to do my job.”

“It’s good if he is against me, but when he offends me, he also offends the Zulu nation,” he said, according to the IOL website, in what it is reported to be an unusually short speech about one of the main events in Zulu’s traditional calendar.

“If his friends are here, go and tell him he has a combat ring – if he wants a battle with sticks because I can take him,” said the King, 50 years old.

Prof. Kesulu told the BBC that he believed that the king was angry with an interview he gave to the local media, in which he said the transition to the new Palace of Emashobney could be regarded as wasteful, given that 152 million dances; 6.5 million pounds.

But “talking about public finances is not an insult,” he said.

“I’m not his speaker,” he added, noting that there are doctorates in Zulu music and cultural tourism.

“I have nothing personal against the king.”

On the issue of fighting the sticks, he said it was part of Zulu’s culture, but these battles had to be equal and “I’m not equal to the King.”

The 64-year-old professor also said that he did not make any struggles for sticks, because before he was a teenager.

King Misuzulu was crowned in 2022, after an annual feud after his father’s death, longtime King Guduil Tsvetini, and then shortly after.

Two of his brothers challenge Missul’s claim to the throne, but he was recognized by both the royal host of Zulu and the South African state.

The throne has no official political force, but about one fifth of 64 million people in South Africa are Zulu, and its monarchy remains extremely influential with the annual budget funded by taxpayers over $ 4.9 million ($ 3.5 million).

Zulu’s kingdom has a proud history. He is world -renowned for the victory of British troops during the 1879 battle of Isandlvan.