Zulu King Seeks Independence From S. Africa : Politics: Unexpected demand goes far beyond previous calls for regional autonomy. But there is little chance government or ANC would allow it.

In a move that creates a dangerous new crisis for this country’s troubled transition to democracy, the king of the Zulus abruptly announced Monday that he intends to set up his own independent state so he can rule as a sovereign monarch of South Africa’s largest ethnic group.

During a three-hour meeting with President Frederik W. de Klerk in the eastern city of Durban, King Goodwill Zwelithini demanded that the government effectively restore the traditional Zulu kingdom and cede him exclusive control of the apartheid-created black homeland of Kwazulu and the entire eastern province of Natal.

“I demand that you give the Zulu nation the opportunity to become free once again and to choose their own destiny for themselves,” the king said.

The new Zulu nation, he told tens of thousands of cheering supporters at a jammed soccer stadium rally before the meeting, would exist “on its own with its own territorial basis and with its own government.”

He insisted that the Zulu people have “an inalienable right to self-determination.”

The king, a mercurial figure who commands respect among many of the estimated 8 million Zulus, said he would not abide by the results of the country’s first free elections in April and would not respect the recently negotiated interim constitution for a post-apartheid government.

He said he would instead promulgate his own constitution to “establish a monarchy modeled after the best examples of democratic and pluralistic monarchies in the world.”

The proposed territory, essentially the northeastern quadrant of South Africa, would include all the land conquered by British colonial forces from the Zulus in 1834.

Zwelithini’s unexpected demand goes far beyond previous calls by Zulu leaders for regional autonomy and adds new pressures on the government and the African National Congress. The ANC’s president, Nelson Mandela, is expected to become the country’s first black president after the April 26-28 elections.

There is virtually no chance that the ANC or government would allow the Zulus to secede. But differences between Zulus and Xhosas, especially those in the ANC, have been a root cause of the spiral of political violence that has claimed more than 13,000 lives in the last four years.

Both the white minority government and the ANC oppose the creation of separate territories on the basis of race or ethnicity. Under apartheid, homelands were created to separate the races and deny South African citizenship to blacks.

De Klerk appeared to downplay Zwelithini’s demand, telling reporters after the meeting that he would formally respond to the king’s “new position” Thursday after consulting with his Cabinet. He said the constitution could be amended, if necessary, to accommodate “special needs.”

In Cape Town earlier in the day, De Klerk told editors and publishers from 21 nations attending the annual convention of the International Press Institute that the government is prepared to continue negotiations with anyone opposing the democratic process.

“What we cannot accept is a return in any form to racial discrimination and minority ethnic domination, or ethnic domination of any nature,” he said.

At a rally Sunday in Retreat, a mixed-race township outside Cape Town, Mandela also ruled out the dismemberment of the nation. “We are not going to give any part of South Africa to any single ethnic group, black or white,” he told several thousand supporters.

Carl Niehaus, an ANC spokesman, dismissed the king’s demand as unrealistic. “We don’t believe there is any possibility that such a separate state could be created,” he said Monday.

But Niehaus also said the king could be partially accommodated. The interim national constitution, he said, does not bar the formulation of a provincial charter that would allow a figurehead monarch. The new nation will have nine provinces, each with its own constitution.

The king is the nephew of Zulu Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, who is chief minister of Kwazulu and heads the Inkatha Freedom Party. Buthelezi has drawn considerable flak from his own supporters for joining forces with militant right-wing Afrikaners who have demanded the right to create a separate white homeland.

The alliance of anti-ANC blacks and pro-apartheid whites has said it will boycott the elections, as well as supervisory government structures created to ease the transition to a black majority government, unless it wins greater regional autonomy and a change in the proposed balloting to allow for ticket-splitting.

Negotiations to draw the alliance into the process stalled last week, and neither Inkatha nor the rest of the alliance members registered for the elections before a deadline expired Saturday night. Nineteen other parties will contest the race, but both Mandela and De Klerk have said Parliament could be recalled into special session to allow additional parties to register.

At a rally Sunday in northern Natal, Buthelezi angrily repeated his refusal to participate, however, and warned of violence if the elections proceed as planned. He accused the ANC of “ethnic cleansing” against Zulus in violence-scarred townships near Johannesburg, and he warned that the ANC may “try to exterminate the Zulus as the Nazis tried to exterminate the Jews.”

Buthelezi, a charismatic figure once considered the chief black rival to Mandela, has been largely eclipsed in recent months as Mandela and De Klerk have launched their election campaigns. Polls indicate Buthelezi’s political support has fallen steadily and that his Inkatha party is unlikely to win more than a tiny fraction of votes if he joins the elections.

In a telephone interview, Ziba Jiyane, spokesman and political director of Inkatha, said the king had issued his demand partly because he was upset that Buthelezi had not won any of his demands in months of negotiations with the government and ANC.

Jiyane warned that a confrontation now appears inevitable. “The king told his subjects that he’ll be the first one ready to die. He said he won’t beg Mandela for the land his forefathers fought for.”

He added: “It’s terrifying, really. It makes things even worse, if they were not complicated enough.”

Zwelithini first spoke to followers at King’s Park Stadium. Many wore the traditional dress of animal skins and carried ceremonial spears, shields and machetes. Chanting and dancing, they later marched into downtown Durban, disrupting much of the bustling port city.

Police said one man was killed and another was wounded when gunshots were fired near City Hall, where the meeting with De Klerk was held. Both the king and Buthelezi later came outside to calm the crowd. No arrests were made.