AmaMpondomise throne challenge on hold until August
The Dosini royal family will know in August if they will be allowed leave to appeal a decision declaring the Pahlo royal family the rightful heirs to the AmaMpondomise throne.
The notice of application for leave to appeal was brought to the Mthatha high court. The matter was heard on Monday, with Judge Mbulelo Jolwana indicating he would not deliver judgment until August.
“I am not going to indicate when judgment will be delivered but I hope and express that it can be available on the first Tuesday of the third term,” he told lawyers representing the two royal houses.
In January this year, Jolwana declared Pahlo’s Luzuko Matiwane as the heir of AmaMpondomise kingdom, and instructed President Cyril Ramaphosa to confirm his appointment as king within 30 days.
But the Dosinis say they are the rightful heirs, and are now challenging the ruling, while the Pahlos want the court to allow them to enthrone Matiwane and for Ramaphosa to issue the kingship certificate.
In January Jolwana declared a Dosini resolution to identify Ntombekonzo Maseti as the head of AmaMpondomise unlawful and set it aside. The judge found that neither Dosini nor his descendants had ruled the AmaMpondomise.
The succession battle began after Mthatha judge Richard Brooks’ groundbreaking ruling in May 2019, which restored the kingdom, taken away in 1904 by the when Matiwane colonial’ s government great great grandfather, King Mhlontlo, was declared a commoner by the British.
Dosini was, even before he ascended to the throne, disinherited by his father, King Ngcwina, in the 13th century. The throne was given to his young brother Cirha (Pahlo royal family), of the minor house.
Jolwana found that in the disinheritance of Dosini, the Cirha house (Pahlo) ruled the AmaMpondomise for 15 generations until Mhlontlo.
Applicants for the notice for the application of leave to appeal are Simphiwe Molosi, Ntombenkonzo Maseti and the Dosini royal family. The respondents are the Pahlo royal family, Matiwane, Ramaphosa, Cogta minister Nkosazana DlaminiZuma and EC premier Oscar Mabuyane.
On Monday, the head of the Dosini legal team, advocate Gift Shakoane SC, claimed that Jolwana’s judgment disregarded the customary law of AmaMpondomise.
The process by Ngcwina to disinherit the Dosini was not done in line within AmaMpondomise customary law on succession, he argued.