The April meeting of the Society incorporated two events.
The first was the annual award of the Daphne Strutt award to a promising fashion Student at Durban University of Technology.
This years award by the Committee went to second year student Julia Whitby. It was apparent why Julia won this bursary when she recounted her passion for fashion design that started at a young age.
This was followed by a talk by Steven Kotze on ‘The Succession Disputes within the Zulu royal household, 1816-2021’.
Steven explained that since Shaka there had been numerous challenges to the succession of the Zulu Kings as often there was no clear guidelines. Succession was applied differently in that decisions varied between, the eldest son of the chief wife, eldest son of the first wife (Lobola paid by King of father), eldest son of the junior wife (Lobola paid ) and eldest son of concubine (no lobola paid).
The result of the differing succession routes resulted in contestation and often assassination or civil war. A total of five assassinations occurred since 1816.
