THE Zulu royal palace in KwaMashu is a plain white bungalow with a corrugated roof, surrounded by a chicken-wire fence. Built at the more affluent end of the black township near Durban, the house is used by the Zulu monarch, King Goodwill Zwelithini, whenever business brings him to town.
It was here on Thursday night that a group of armed men attacked and seriously injured Queen Abuhle MaMathe Zulu (45), one of the king's five wives, and shot her daughter, Sibusile (25) in the leg. Five others, reported to be junior members of the royal family, were also beaten or stabbed.
Although police have yet to reveal a motive for the attack, it is widely believed to have been carried out by supporters of Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi's Inkatha Freedom Party.
Although the Zulu Nationalist Party has an ultra-monarchist platform, many of its members feel that the king has betrayed them and drifted towards President Nelson Mandela's ruling African National Congress.
The king is reported to have received numerous death threats since he broke with Inkatha and the majority of Zulu chiefs in 1994, arguing that traditional leaders should be above party politics.
Thursday's attack came as the queen and a small number of relatives and friends were gathering in the garden of the KwaMashu residence to prepare an opening party for Princess Sibusile's new township sewing project.
Police say they were set upon with knives, clubs and whips by a group of up to 30 men who stormed into the garden through the gate. A number of shots were fired and the princess was hit in the leg. All the victims were said to be in a stable condition yesterday.
Witnesses later told police that their assailants had abused Queen Abuhule for not inviting IFP supporters to the party. However, the IFP's general secretary, Mr Zibaj Jiyane, claimed yesterday that the attack may have been linked to feuding within the local ANC.
The attack was mild by the standards of Kwazulu-Natal, where over 50 people die each month in political feuding between the IFP and ANC, but it has still shocked most Zulus regardless of their allegiance.
Zulu decorum requires elaborate obeisance before chiefs and royalty: to assault the queen is akin to sacrilege. The palace stood empty yesterday, guarded by a handful of police and a military armoured car. A next door neighbour and witness, Mrs Nomsa Zulu, said she believed it had been unguarded at the time of the attack.
It is a disaster," she said. "The queen is badly hurt. The way she was injured, they meant to kill her. I can't believe a man would hit a woman like that."
People in KuaMasha were deeply upset at the turn of events, Mrs Zulu said. "She means a great deal to us. That [the royal family] is our treasure."
Ms Mary de Haas, an independent peace monitor and expert on Zulu society said that the incident was likely to increase political tensions in the Zulu heartland, already high in the run-up to local elections planned for next month.
"For this to happen ieally is the pits," she said. I would say that it would make things even more polarised than before, but I don't really think the divisions could be any wider than they already were.