JOHANNESBURG (AP) — King Goodwill Zwelithini, the traditional leader of South Africa’s Zulu nation, has died aged 72 after being hospitalized for more than a month. His family announced the death. Zwelithini, the eighth Zulu king, reigned for more than 50 years, making him the longest-serving Zulu monarch. As the traditional leader of the Zulu nation, Zwelithini did not hold political office but had considerable influence over the country’s estimated 12 million Zulus, the largest ethnic group of South Africa’s 60 million people. Historically, under the leadership of King Shaka Zulu from 1816 to 1828, Zulus gave fierce resistance to British colonialism.
