South African Rain Queen Dead At 27

[matcom]

<snip>

JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) - Modjadji VI, the South African queen believed to make rain, has died in hospital aged 27, just two years after being crowned, her office said on Monday.

Descended from a line of rain queens dating back at least 200 years, Makobo Modjadji was the youngest ever to head southern Africa's only female dynasty ruling the Balobedu people in the country's northern Limpopo province.

Modjadji Royal Council chairman Kelly Modjadji said the queen died in hospital at the weekend but gave no further details, domestic news agency SAPA reported.

The Balobedu believe their women rulers communicate with the gods and possess rain making powers passed from queen to queen.

"She is an agent of god and the gods are our supreme rulers and her rain charms work in conjunction with their will, a will she cannot override," royal spokesman Mathole Motshega told Reuters in 2003. He was not immediately available for comment.

The queen was a fan of popular television soap operas and walked around with her cellphone glued to her ear in a move analysts said bridged the gap between tradition and modernity.

She was the first rain queen to have had a formal education, having completed high school.

Makobo Modjadji succeeded her grandmother Mokope Modjadji V in 2003 and was crowned in light drizzle, seen by some of her older subjects as proof of her powers. In line with Balobedu custom, she was not married.

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