24 September 2016•Update: 25 September 2016
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa
Thousands of people marked the 200th anniversary of the founding of the Zulu kingdom in South Africa’s port city of Durban Saturday.
Several cultural groups performed at the stadium to entertain thousands of attendees mostly dressed in traditional Zulu attires.
King Goodwill Zwelithini, the current Zulu Monarch, said people were celebrating the late Shaka Zulu’s life and his courage that made him unite several clans and form the Zulu nation.
During his reign, Shaka used his military prowess to bring together more than a hundred surrounding chiefdoms into the Zulu kingdom, which grew even stronger after he was murdered by his two half-brothers in 1827.
The Zulu tribe is South Africa’s largest ethnic group with an estimated 10 to 11 million people, who mainly reside in the country’s southeast province of KwaZulu-Natal. South Africa has a population of 55 million people.
Saturday’s celebrations also marked 45 years since the 68-year-old Zwelithini ascended to the throne as a Zulu monarch.
Zwelithini praised his predecessors for their leadership skills and urged his community to breed a new generation of leaders.
Speaking in the Zulu language, the king also used the occasion to condemn protesting students who have been burning property belonging to higher educational institutions in the country. He urged South Africans to be peaceful and be tolerant of others, regardless of religious and cultural beliefs.
Speaking at the same event, President Jacob Zuma also urged the Zulu people to unite and remain respectful to each other.
