Government of KwaZulu-Natal

Following the Battle of Blood River, the Zulu Kingdom ceded territory to the Voortrekkers who formed the Natalia Republic therefrom in 1839.

The Natalia Republic was conquered by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in 1843 and incorporated into the British Empire as the Natal Colony.

Although recognised as a paramount traditional leader of the Zulu people with a statutory relationship with the Natal and then KZN government since the Amakhosi and Iziphakanyiswa Act of 1990, the Zulu King was formally recognised as the monarch of the reunited province in 2005 with the passing of the KwaZulu-Natal Traditional Leadership and Governance Act.

During a period known as the Mfecane, King Shaka kaSenzangakhona and his successors conquered and annexed other kingdoms such as the Ndwandwe during the Ndwandwe-Zulu War.

With the Napoleonic Wars and subsequent French conquest of the Netherlands spread to the rest of South Africa's modern-day territory including in the area of the Zulu Kingdom.

In the Scramble for Africa, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland (UK) invaded the Natalia Republic following the Xhosa Wars with the isiXhosa-speaking people to the south in the modern-day Eastern Cape.

Following the Anglo-Zulu War, the Zulu dynasty was deposed and King Cetshwayo fled leaving his faction, the Usuthu behind (who continue to act as a traditional authority in the Nongoma area of modern-day South Africa).

[2] Due to a Civil War between the Mandlakazi under Zibhebhu kaMaphitha and the Usuthu, the British attempted to restore King Cetshwayo who returned to Ulundi.

The British government direct Sir Theophilus Shepstone, governor of the Natal Colony to annex the Zulu Kingdom, ending its protectorate status in 1897.

Inkatha was both perceived as an ethnonationalist puppet regime of the apartheid government and an anti-apartheid resistance movement and it disagreed with the ANC on economic sanctions and the armed struggle.

Inkatha militia were trained by the South African Defence Force and subsequently the Afrikaner Weerstandsbeweging, who pertrated violence such as the Boipatong massacre in 1992.

Zulu people living in the former KwaZulu homeland who were disenfranchised, were allowed to vote and received full South African citizenship.

Inkatha rebranded as the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), joined the Government of National Unity with Prince Mangosuthu as Minister of Home Affairs[12] and won a majority of the votes in KZN from the first democratic elections[13] with Frank Mdlalose (former KwaZulu Minister of the Interior) being elected as the first Premier.

[14] After nearly two years of Ben Ngubane as the Acting Premier,[15] he was succeeded by Lionel Mtshali in 1999 following the 1999 South African general election.

[21] In 2021, following (but not exclusively causally related to) the arrest of Jacob Zuma, the July riots erupted across the province leading to vandalism and looting of shops which spread to Gauteng.

[23] The ANC was relegated to third place after the 2024 South African general election by the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (which won a 40% plurality in KZN under Jacob Zuma), the Inkatha Freedom Party negotiated a coalition with the ANC and Democratic Alliance (DA) as part of a broader grand coalition called the Government of National Unity that saw it returning to the premiership with the election of Thami Ntuli.

[27] The King receives a stipend from the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government and relations with the monarchy are administered through the Royal Trust and Household Agency within the Office of the Premier.

[28][29] He performs ceremonial functions such as awarding honours on the advice of the government, delivering a speech at the start of each session of the Provincial Legislature,[30] meeting the Executive Council and holding audiences with the Premier.

Succession to the throne is by appointment limited to agnates of the Zulu dynasty,[33] of whom the heir presumptive is the Crown Prince, His Royal Highness, Prince Jubezizweni, with reigning monarch being appointed by the late Queen Regent, Mantfombi Dlamini[34] and recognised by President Cyril Ramaphosa in terms of Zulu customary law and the law of South Africa.

Its presiding officer is the Speaker (IsiZulu: uSomlomo), currently Ntobeko Boyce of the African National Congress (ANC) since 2019 who is deputised by Mmabatho Tembe of the Democratic Alliance (DA) since 2024.