However, such comments would not have upset too many people he was addressing.

As a young man who grew up in KwaZulu-Natal, albeit in Durban, it was not uncommon to hear such comments in a taxi or on trains heading to a township such as Umlazi, Ntuzuma or KwaMashu.

King Goodwill was quoted as saying during the 133rd commemoration of the Battle of Isandlwana that same-sex relationships were "rotten".

In a country with a population that fully supports its constitution, his comments would and should be condemned by every sector of society, instead of just equality and advocacy groups.

With the risk of sounding elitist, many people I know are not aware that South Africa became only the fifth country in the world in 2006 to legalise same-sex marriages.

But we still have a long way to go. Take a friend of mine who this week told me her mother expressed surprise that one of her girlfriends was married to another woman. The mother was even more surprised when she was told it is legal in this country for two homosexual adults to be in a thriving relationship - let alone be happily married.

If the constitution of this country was a person, he or she may well have been stoned by now for being a "pansy" or "Western" for allowing two men or a pair of women to be together.

Again, I remember a few years back, when a triumvirate of gay teenagers were walking past a taxi queue on Field Street (now Joe Slovo Street) in Durban. A few taxi drivers ran after them with sjamboks, while people - myself included - turned a blind eye. Of course, I was never going to show revolt alone amid the chaos. That memory has never escaped me .

Just under three years ago, the country was divided over the introduction of a gay story line on the country's biggest soapie, Generations. The minority gay and lesbian community and advocacy groups celebrated this. They were countered by a far larger group of people.

A Facebook group called "We will stop watching Generations if Senzo and Jason continue kissing" was formed immediately after the two male characters kissed, and quickly garnered more than 20 000 fans on the page. There were pictures of two dogs - with the two actors' faces - having sex, and the soapie was even renamed "Gaynerations" and "Gayerations".

I also think of 24-year-old activist Noxolo Nogwaza who was raped, stoned and stabbed to death in Kwa-Thema in Gauteng, in an attack by criminals who were disgusted with her sexual orientation.

The government, of course, must be commended for introducing a task force to fight violent crimes against gay and lesbian people in the country. The Department of Justice announced the team last year after a string of "corrective rape" incidents in which men raped lesbians in a foolish attempt to change their sexual orientation.

I worry that South Africans do not understand rights enshrined in our constitution. It seems even tolerance is still an insurmountable hurdle, even for people in authority like the Zulu king.

Indeed, this constitution is but a piece of law many people don't read or care for, but the basics of humanity should always reign, far and above anything else. The lessons we are taught at a young age about compassion, respecting our elders and treating people the way we want to be treated must never be forsaken.

It is my hope that King Goodwill will eventually turn his attention to crime, access to education and the HIV/Aids scourge that threatens to wreck my home province.

His comments - although made before President Jacob Zuma arrived for the commemoration - should be condemned by Zuma, who, if for nothing else, could score political points by coming out against such deplorable assertions.

If Zuma didn't find anything wrong in the king's comments, then his chief of staff should find sticky tape and put up the constitution on every corner of his office.

Zuma and every citizen of this country - including those who perpetuate xenophobia and women and children abuse - must remember that our country is founded on values of human dignity, non-sexism and non-racialism and the supremacy of our constitution and rule of law.