AbaThembu acting King Azenathi ‘Zanelizwe’ Dalindyebo and his uncle Prince Mthandeni Mankunku Dalindyebo have made peace after protracted court battles over the abaThembu kingship. The conflict between the two started with the incarceration of King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo.
Prince Mankunku Dalindyebo argued that customarily he should take over the throne, but Prince Azenathi stood his ground, saying he should be the one, because he was the first son of King Buyelekhaya from the older wife.
The High Court in Grahamstown ruled that Prince Azenathi should take over as the acting king of the abaThembu nation.
He says they have decided to iron out their differences. “We could have been wrong in condoning the factionalism between the two of us, we are very happy that now we have identified our differences, and we are going to work together in uniting the family, in uniting the kingdom, and we know that it lies between the two of us, it is the two of us that have to stand up, hand in hand united, so that the whole nation can follow suit.”
Prince Mthandeni Mankunku Dalindyebo says he is happy to be reunited with the Prince.
“There are people in the family who took an advantage of the situation and used tradition to divide the family. So I respect the traditions and customs, and my son here also respects it… I was manipulated, and mislead by the opportunists who wanted to pursue their own interest at the expense of our kingdom – in actual fact there was absolutely no need to defy the instruction from King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo – because he said Prince Azenathi should take over the throne.”
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