Goodwill Zwelithini, the controversial but revered king of South Africa's Zulus, died Friday aged 72 after weeks in hospital, his palace announced.

The king wielded great influence among millions of Zulus through his largely ceremonial and spiritual role despite having no official power in modern South Africa.

"It is with the utmost grief that I inform the nation of the passing of His Majesty King Goodwill Zwelithini ... King of the Zulu nation," the palace said a statement signed by Mangosuthu Buthelezi, a powerful veteran politician who is also a Zulu prince.

The king was admitted to hospital last month for diabetes.

"Tragically, while still in hospital, His Majesty’s health took a turn for the worse and he subsequently passed away in the early hours of this morning," the statement said.

Born in Nongoma, a small town in the south-eastern Kwa-Zulu Natal province, Zwelithini ascended the throne in 1971 during the apartheid era at the age of 23, three years after the death of his father.

Statement: President Cyril Ramaphosa mourns passing of King Goodwill Zwelithini KaBhekuzulu

President Cyril Ramaphosa is deeply saddened by the news of the passing of Isilo Samabandla, King Goodwill Zwelithini KaBhekuzulu.

His Majesty passed away in hospital on the 12th of March 2021.

“This sad news come at a time when we had all been hopeful that His Majesty was recovering well in hospital where he had been over the past few weeks,” the President said.

The President has offered his sympathies and prayers to the Royal Family, to the Zulu nation, and to the people of KwaZulu-Natal and beyond - for whom the Ingonyama was an important symbol of history, culture and heritage.

“His Majesty will be remembered as a much-loved, visionary monarch who made an important contribution to cultural identity, national unity and economic development in KwaZulu-Natal and through this, to the development of our country as a whole.”