The first wife of South Africa’s Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini has failed in her legal attempt to halt his plans to take a third wife.

Queen Ntokozo kaMayisela went to court ahead of what was expected to be the wedding later this week.

But despite the ruling, it is not clear whether the wedding will still go ahead as planned.

On Saturday, South African media quoted a letter reportedly from the king saying the ceremony had been called off “due to reasons beyond the control of the royal house”.

Polygamous marriages are recognised in South Africa but only if they are registered as customary weddings.

This latest row comes amid a series of scandals that has hit King Misuzulu since he came to power just over two years ago.

The Zulu king does not have formal political power and the monarch’s role within broader South African society is largely ceremonial, but he remains hugely influential with a yearly government-funded budget of several million dollars.

Before he was enthroned, the king married Mayisela in 2021 in a civil marriage.

In her legal argument heard in the high court on Monday, the queen, through her lawyer, said that the king could not marry anyone else as their marriage was still in force.

Under South African law, a civil marriage must either be dissolved or converted to a traditional union before a man can take any more wives.

It is not clear why the marriage contract was not an issue when the king took a second wife, Queen Nozizwe Mulela-Zulu, back in 2022.

But according to South Africa’s weekly Sunday World newspaper, citing a letter Queen Mayisela had written to elders in the Zulu royal house, the couple had agreed to convert their marriage from civil to traditional.

The duo, given the option of either divorcing and remarrying or applying for the conversion by their legal team, apparently opted to do the latter but King Misuzulu “decided to change his mind” for unknown reasons, the queen reportedly said.

In rejecting Monday’s application to halt the king’s marriage to Nomzamo Myeni, Judge Bongani Mngadi said that as the queen had already consented to the idea that her husband could marry other women, she could not prevent a ceremony from taking place.

Despite the reported letter, as well as the king’s lawyer in court, saying that the wedding would not take place, contradictory statements have also emerged.

South African news site TimesLIVE is reporting that the bride-to-be said she knew nothing about the letter and as far as she understood, her wedding would proceed as initially planned.

According to another news site, IOL, which reportedly spoke to the couple, the king insisted that he loved Myeni and would “marry her by force”.

Since his coronation in October 2022, there has been controversy around some of the decisions King Misuzulu has made.

In December, he unlawfully suspended the board of the Ingonyama Trust, which owns and controls vast tracts of communal land in KwaZulu-Natal, which is supposed to be for the benefit and welfare of communities under the king’s leadership in the region.

King Misuzulu is the sole trustee and chairperson of the trust but has no powers to hire or fire board members.

He has also recently summarily fired two close aides, including his traditional prime minister, in quick succession – moves which raised eyebrows among royal watchers.

Misuzulu’s position as king is also being questioned by some and a legal case is currently under way challenging his recognition as monarch by the state.

He ascended to the throne sooner than expected after his father, King Goodwill Zwelithini, died during the Covid pandemic in March 2021 of diabetes-related complications.

Zwelithini was the Zulu nation’s longest-reigning monarch, having served on the throne for almost 50 years.