KwaZulu Natal Premier, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, has appointed a team of investigators to look into the employees at the Zulu Royal House. Dube-Ncube revealed this at an imbizo at Inchanga outside Durban on Tuesday, days after her office terminated the contract of AmaZulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini's praise singer.

Dube-Ncube revealed that there were ghost workers who were being paid by the KZN government through fraudulent activities. " We are currently investigating a very sensitive matter which I cannot divulge much to the media. Last year, we took a decision to appoint a team to look into the reasons as to why the Zulu Royal Houses were not well looked after. There are 40 people employed as security officers, over 50 employed as domestic workers and another 50 employed as cleaners yet the houses are not looked after," she said. The premier added that this could only mean that there are ghost employees who are being paid without rendering their services to the royal houses. "The investigating team discovered that there is a lot of ghost employees in the Zulu royal house, some people are able to submit claims three to four times. That is why we decided to appoint the team to look into this because some other royal houses are a shame, you will never believe that the state is taking care of all the palaces," said Dube-Ncube.

On Tuesday, Misuzulu said in a statement that he felt disrespected by the KZN provincial government after his advisor and praise singer, Buzetsheni Mdletshe ,was fired last week. The king's advisor and praise singer's termination will come into effect on April 30. Mdletshe was contracted to the office of Dube-Ncube in 2021 when Misuzulu's father King Goodwill Zwelithini was still alive. Insiders at the royal house believe that Mdletshe, who has been with the royal family since 1977 was being punished after he refused to introduce ANC KZN secretary-general Siboniso Duma, following an incident where he grabbed a microphone from AmaZulu Prime Minister Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi last month. Buthelezi said in a statement that Mdletshe is in charge of all the sacred rituals that take place and that the King was disappointed that the KZN government is operating as though the king did not exist.

"The King also cautioned the KZN government that the disdain in which they treat the royal family in general and the King in particular is an affront to the Zulu nation," said Buthelezi.