THE South African government is to discuss today whether local elections planned for KwaZuluNatal should be postponed following last week's attack on members of the Zulu royal family.
The Zulu Queen Buhle MaMathe (45) and her daughter Princess Sibusile (24) were seriously injured on Thursday night when armed men stormed into the royal residence near Durban and attacked them with clubs, knives, whips and firearms.
More than 24 hours later it emerged that another member of the Zulu royal family, Princess Nonhlanhla, had been abducted in the confusion and murdered. Her hacked and bludgeoned body was found in the grounds of a nearby hostel for migrant Zulu workers controlled by the Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
The attack on female members of the royal family has increased tensions between supporters of the African National Congress of the IFP, already locked in a bloody conflict for control of the Zula heartland. Their struggle - in essence a civil war between Zulu conservatives in the IFP and Zulu modernists in the ANC - has claimed more than 14,000 lives in the past 10 years.
Although the IFP has a monarchist platform, the Zulu monarch, King Goodwill Zwelithini, and members of his family claim to have received numerous death threats since the king broke with the IFP in 1994.
At the weekend, ANC leaders in the province blamed the IFP for the attack and repeated calls for local elections to be postponed until political violence in the province is brought under control. An IFP spokesman denied that his party was responsible for the attack, which he described as an "outrage".
President Nelson Mandela's ANC led Government now faces a difficult choice. It would sue the ANC in KwaZulu Natal to postpone the elections, which it claims have been rigged by the IFP dominated provincial government. The IFP leader, Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi, however, has been issuing veiled threats of further "tension" if the elections are postponed.
Both sides believe that control of the province is at stake. In 1994 the IFP won control of KwaZula Natal with a majority of less than 1 per cent, in a poll which the provincial ANC claims was rigged.
Last week's attacks has caused shock and despair among many ordinary Zulus, regardless of their allegiance. In recent years both the IFP, and the ANC have claimed to support a unifying and cultural role of the Zulu monarchy. Mr Mandela recently tried to patch up his differences with the 300 strong body of Zulu chiefs - the backbone of Inkatha - by asking the king to organise an imbizo or traditional gathering at which the IFP's demands for provincial autonomy could be discussed.
That effort failed last month when chiefs heaped abuse on Mr Mandela at a pre imbizo meeting.
The incident has also raised fresh questions about the quality of policing KwaZula Natal. Ms Mary de Haas, a violence monitor in the province, says she had campaigned for several months now to increase police protection for threatened members of the royal, family. The palace at KwaMashu was unguarded when the attack took place. The provincial ANC is enraged that it took nearly 24 hours for the police to discover that one of the royal party had been murdered.
A spokesman for the South African police service in Durban told The Irish Times that Princess Nonhlanhla's body was found at 6.30 a.m. on Friday, complete with identity documents. However, the police failed to connect it with the attack until much later that day.