The two-way tussle for the Abathembu throne in the Eastern Cape continues. In the latest salvo, an imbizo attended by the royal houses of the Abathembu, resolved to remove Buyelekhaya Dalinyebo as king and replace him with his son, Azenathi.
The Imbizo was held at the Bumbane Great place. But, King Buyelekhaya rejects this decision, and calls it illegitimate.
The AbaThembu kingdom has been unstable for the past five years. The infighting started in late 2015, just after King Buyelekhaya’s incarceration.
He switched support for his son, Azenathi Dalindyebo, to act as king while he was in jail. Instead, he proclaimed his wife, Nokwanda, must take the throne. Two factions then emerged, one that supports Nokwanda and the other for Azenathi.
King Dalinyebo also faces criminal charges related to an attack on his son at Bumbane Great Place in March.
In this video below, King Buyelakhaya gets arrested after an attack on his son:
In May, he also disowned him, and claimed he’s not his son. He also insisted on DNA tests. Just last week, Azenathi was in court on charges of assault relating to an attack on the king’s spokesperson.
Spokesperson for the pro-Azenathi faction, iNkosi Zwelenqaba Mgudlwa says the decision to dethrone Buylekhaya was taken unanimously.
“The reasons for the dethronement of the king is; number one, his misconduct; and two, is Act number 3 of 2000 that states that the king, the chief and the headman can be dethroned if he is incarcerated for 12 months without the option of a fine,” explains Zwelenqaba Mgudlwa.
Those in support of king Dalinyebo says the meeting is illegal as well as its outcome.
Spokesperson for Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, inkosi Babalo Zanodumo Papu, says they are not shaken by the sham dethronement of the king.
“An illegitimate meeting always comes out with illegitimate resolutions. Only King Buyelekhaya is the rightful king of AbaThembu. All the heads of AmaDlomo houses were there when we all agreed to support King Buyelekhaya as the rightful king of AbaThembu. So, the meeting that was held yesterday was a meeting of friends,” claims Zanoduno Papu.
But Nkosi Mgudlwa maintains the meeting was legitimate.
“Yesterday’s meeting was legitimate. We had a permit from the government and all the houses were invited. So, that meeting was legitimate,” explains Mgudlwa.
The Eastern Cape Traditional Affairs Department has distanced itself from the infighting in the AbaThembu Kingdom.
Traditional Affairs MEC, Xolile Nqatha says they only gave permission for the faction to hold a meeting, but not to dethrone the king.
“We did indicate from the word go that it is the government’s wish that all of them are able to sit under one roof and be able to provide that kind of leadership. And therefore, any reports that allege that government has sort of approved the removal of the king are completely not true. We are awaiting the reports of all the meetings that have been convened and then we’ll take it from there. It’s not the place of government to remove a king. It’s the place of the royal family to appoint. The government only recognises,” explains Nqatha.
Nqata has also confirmed that the certificate of recognition for Azenathi as acting king has lapsed.
“The certificate for the acting has expired. However, we are still waiting for the king to tell us whether he has given the acting king notice to vacate the throne. King Buyelekhaya has sent us affidavits that he has given Azenathi a notice to vacate office. Our legal team is still looking into the affidavits to see if they can be regarded as a notice,” says Nqatha.
The two factions agree on the call for a DNA test but such a test has not been done yet.
In this video below, Chairperson of the House of Traditional Leaders, Chief Mwelo Nonkonyana:
