KZN’s Rodgers working on plan to make Zulu royal family financially self-sustainable

KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) Finance MEC Francois Rodgers said he is working on a long-term plan to make the Zulu royal family financially self-sustainable and less reliant on provincial government funding.

Each year, the provincial government allocates millions of rands to the monarchy.

In the previous financial year, Rodgers signed off on a R86 million cheque to the palace.

In an interview with EWN, Rodgers said that the province needs to rethink how it supports the Zulu royal family.

Rodgers said that one option is to emulate Botswana’s Meat Commission (BMC) model in KZN.

In 1965, Botswana’s government established the BMC to promote the country’s beef and related products across the world.

The BMC, which still exists today, played a significant role in Botswana’s early economic development.

Rodgers said KZN’s government can also assist the Zulu royal family in leveraging its vast land and cattle to create something similar.

“I’ve now found investors who are prepared to come in to form a joint venture with the royal household to look at a beef canning plant to export canned beef up into Central Africa, where there is a huge demand for it. We have done some preliminary numbers and studies on this model - the king is really interested in this.

“I’ve raised this with the Premier and [KZN] Cabinet - we are actually going to Botswana in January on a benchmarking [trip] to look at how we implement that. That’s how we can make the royal household more sustainable, so I have more money to pay for education, health and other services that are challenged. It also takes away the political hold that whoever is in government has on the King because then it is his money.”

Rodgers said other strategies include commercialising the Zulu royal family’s rich history and heritage as a tourist attraction.