NATIONAL NEWS - President Cyril Ramaphosa has found himself embroiled in a royal fight after he announced the new rain queen in Tzaneen at the weekend.
The announcement sparked a war of words in the clan about the rightful heir to Africa’s only female monarchy.
One side of the family, the Mokotos, who also claim to be the rightful heirs to the throne, accused Ramaphosa of playing with fire by announcing the future queen from the Modjadji side of the family. They vowed to block the crowning of the young queen.
The rift followed a visit by Ramaphosa and former president Jacob Zuma to Tzaneen to celebrate the official restoration of the queenship, reversing the apartheid government’s demotion of the rain queen to the status of a chieftain in 1972.
At the ceremony, Ramaphosa announced the queen-to-be, Masalanabo Modjadji, 13, would be crowned after she turns 18, having undergone the rites of passage for rulership.
The clan has been without a rain queen since the death of Rain Queen VI Makobo Modjadji, the mother of the new queen, in 2005.
Ramaphosa ignites royal family feud over rain queen
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