King calls for Zulu history to be rewritten

Zulu monarch King Goodwill Zwelithini has urged African academics not to withhold information gathered from research, but to rather use it to rewrite history books for the benefit of future generations.

The king was speaking at an event organised to commemorate the Battle of Isandlwana, between the British and the Zulu in 1879. Zulu historians and academics had gathered to discuss the history of Zulu kings and their role in past battles. He said the history now learnt at school was distorted and needed to be rewritten to highlight Zulu contributions.

Zwelithini urged the event organisers to take the day's discussions further by compiling a book to be launched in time to celebrate his birthday in July. "I would be very pleased if all these presentations and other researched work on Zulu history could be collated and published by July," he said.