Year of controversy for EC royal houses
Succession dispute divides the abaThembu nation
LIKE many other revered institutions of governance, several Eastern Cape royal houses found themselves at the heart of controversy, some on more occasions than others, in 2016.
From royal succession feuds to marriages and deaths, the year represented the good, bad and ugly as squabbles within royal families played out in the public domain like a soap opera.
The main issue that grabbed media attention was the imprisonment of abaThembu King Buyelekhaya Zwelibanzi Dalindyebo and his succession, which divided the royal family and impacted negatively on the stability and unity of the nation.
AbaThembu spokesman Chief Mfundo Mtirara yesterday confirmed that “2016 was one of the worst years in the history of abaThembu”.
“It was a year where the royal family was so badly divided .... The royal family was divided into three [factions], and ... failed to reach concrete decisions as a family....
“It was like a year that we were cursed. In fact, the royal family failed the nation.
“We caused disunity, disappointment and embarrassment,” said Mtirara.
The abaThembu were divided into three factions on the issue of succession.
One supported King Dalindyebo’s son, Prince Azenathi Zanesizwe Dalindyebo, 24, another King Dalindyebo’s brother, Prince Mankunku Mthandeni Dalindyebo, 47, and the third backed Queen Nokwanda Dalindyebo.
In October, Mankunku’s faction resolved that Mankunku would be acting king, and were supported by the Tolo commission, formed to investigate the issue of succession and determine who would be acting king.
Days later Azenathi’s faction appointed him as acting king and his coronation was undertaken in November.
“But there were pockets of success, with the major one being the royal wedding of King Zwelibanzi’s son Prince Azenathi,” said Mtirara.
Four royal family members died in 2016 without seeing unity in the royal family.
The passing of Chief Daludumo Lindikhaya Mtirara, an army general, who was found shot dead on the eve of Azenathi’s coronation, shocked the nation. It is believed he shot himself.
The coronation was on November 25 at Bumbane Great Place, a week after Azenathi married a Qwathi princess.
Daludumo was spearheading Mankunku’s campaign to ascend the throne. His death came six months after the death of Nkosi Ntande Jongikhwezi Mtirara, another senior royal family member and Mankunku supporter.
One of King Dalindyebo’s wives, Queen Nolitha Dalindyebo, died in September, nine months after the death of Nozolile Ma-Myirha Mtirara , the 94-year-old widow of Nelson Mandela’s late cousin, Chief Justice Zwelivumile Mtirara.
The incarceration of King Dalindyebo also saw Eastern Cape royals and clergy united in a call for his release.
Over the Mthatha River, in the Mpondo royal house wrangles over the kingship were still a major cause of division and tension among amaMpondo.
AmaMpondomise are still waiting for the finalisation of the kingship claim.
In 2010 the Nhlapo Commission found that the amaRharhabe nation did not have a kingship, but last month the North Gauteng High Court found the determination to be invalid.
In 2016 amaXhosa King Mpendulo Zwelonke Sigcawu campaigned for the removal of President Jacob Zuma, which he said would restore dignity to the ANC.
The king and amaXhosa nation were also rocked by tragic death of some senior royal family members.
Chief Mthetho Ngubesizwe Sigcawu died in April, weeks after he was enrobed as the senior traditional leader of Ngxakaxha in Dutywa.
In another political move, the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa threatened to break its ties with the ANC and form its own political party. — lulamilef@