Royals’ talks to include ANC top six
AT LEAST four Eastern Cape royals will on Monday meet the ANC’s top six, led by President Jacob Zuma, to plead for the release of jailed abaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo.
The three kings and a queen hope they can persuade Zuma to grant Dalindyebo, who is serving a 12-year jail term, a presidential pardon.
Another queen will be sending a representative on her behalf.
The traditional leaders have also called on religious leaders to pray for them and traditional healers to burn incense and ask the ancestors to bless their meeting.
AmaXhosa King Zwelonke Sigcawu, western Thembuland and western Mpondoland kings Siyambonga Matanzima and Ndamase Ndamase and eastern Mpondoland Queen Lombekiso Sigcau confirmed they would attend the meeting while amaRharhabe Queen Noloyiso Sandile will send a representative.
Monday’s meeting comes after Sigcawu, Matanzima and his adviser Zwelabantu Matanzima, western Mpondoland Chief Ntandoyesizwe Ndamase and Sipho Tanana of the amaRharhabe Kingdom met in Mthatha in April and resolved to request a meeting with the highest ANC decision-making body.
Yesterday the kings’ facilitator, Prince Mlamli Ndamase, told the Daily Dispatch that the ANC’s national executive committee had granted them a meeting for Monday at 11am at Luthuli House.
“King Zwelibanzi [Dalindyebo’s praise name] being jailed has degraded the dignity of traditional leadership.
“I believe that his victims also feel sorry for him now because he has been in jail for months and they are his subjects. We believe that King Zwelibanzi’s release would also unite the abaThembu nation,” he said.
King Matanzima described the meeting as very important, especially as Dalindyebo is of the senior abaThembu house.
“He is my big brother, so I will definitely be there. We have been waiting for this opportunity for a very long time so we are happy that we are finally getting to sit down with them. We are hopeful that the meeting will be positive,” he said.
When contacted yesterday, Queen Sigcau confirmed that she would be part of the meeting. “I am busy making arrangements for the trip now.”
AmaRharhabe spokesman Prince Zolile Burns-Ncamashe said Queen Sandile would be represented at the meeting.
Dalindyebo’s arrest has not divided only the abaThembu nation but people across South Africa, with some calling for his release and others arguing he should serve his full sentence behind bars.
The vocal and controversial king is serving his sentence at the West Bank maximum security prison in East London after being found guilty of assault, arson and defeating the ends of justice.
He has served nine months of his sentence so far. The calls to release Dalindyebo have been mounting since his incarceration on December 30, when he handed himself over to prison authorities.
Human Settlements Minister Lindiwe Sisulu and former Cosatu general secretary Zwelinzima Vavi are two of the latest to call for Dalindyebo’s release.
They made the call at Queen Nolitha Dalindyebo’s funeral in August.
The Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA and a faction of abaThembu have been leading the call for Zuma to grant Dalindyebo a pardon.
However, Zuma has previously said he was still waiting for Justice and Correctional Services Minister Michael Masutha’s recommendation on a possible release for the king.
“I want to emphasise that it is the president’s prerogative to release the king without consulting anyone,” Ndamase stressed.
He said they were going to the meeting cap in hand, hoping their pleas did not fall on deaf ears.
“We trust in God that the meeting will go well. We are asking that all religions must pray for this trip and traditional leaders must burn incense because we are going to a very important meeting of the nation.”
ANC secretary-general Gwede Mantashe, whom Ndamase said they had been liaising with, could not be reached for comment and had not responded to a text message sent to him at the time of writing yesterday.
The party’s national spokesman Zizi Kodwa said he was not aware of the meeting.