Abathembu king’s reconciliation with son a truly joyous moment
Years of strife caused trauma to royal house, and to those who watched and reported
Abathembu King Buyelekhaya Zwelibanzi Dalindyebo’s reconciliation with his eldest son, Prince Azenathi Zanelizwe Dalindyebo, this week brought joy not just to the royal Abathembu family, but to many others who have followed the sixyear tensions between father and son.
On the Dispatch social media pages more 500 people commented, many praising Zwelibanzi for fixing things with his son after a rocky number of years at Bumbane great place.
King Dalindyebo rose to prominence in 2013 when former president Nelson Mandela became ill and eventually passed away.
As the Madiba clan, the Mandela family form part of the Abathembu royal family, but of a minor house.
A fierce critic of then-president Jacob Zuma, King Dalindyebo’s legal problems and infighting between the Thembus grew in 2014 and became heated in 2015.
Sensing that jail time was awaiting him, in October 2015 the king held an Abathembu meeting, with the media present, announcing that he wanted Azenathi to lead the nation should he be unable to do so.
“Do not smoke dagga, don’t abuse alcohol and politics is not for royals,” Zwelibanzi advised Azenathi, urging him to rather associate himself with the church and focus his energies on empowering himself through education.
But a few days before he was jailed in December 2015, the king dumped Azenathi and said he wanted his wife, Queen Nokwanda Dalindyebo, to act as leader, while another group wanted the king’s brother,
Prince Mankunku Dalindyebo, to take over.
Though Azenathi eventually acted as king in his father’s place, when Dalindyebo was released from prison in December 2019 he snubbed his son.
Azenathi’s 23-year-old wife, Usikhumbulile, whom he married in 2016 while his father was incarcerated, was the one who set the ball rolling to see father and son putting their differences aside and forging unity.
Royal families in this country have become conspirators, where the bloodline is deliberately twisted and corrupted to benefit imposters and alienate legitimate heirs.
Royal palaces have become battlefields, places where conspiracies are hatched, where back-stabbing, blackmailing and muddling happens.
Rows have become as bloody as taxi wars, with people killing one other and running to the courts. And legal routes are not always reconciliatory.
For nine years, since 2011, I have been reporting on the shenanigans of the Abathembu kingship after Amadlomo aired their dirty laundry in public.
They reduced themselves to a laughing stock and a feast for the media. Those were some of the most traumatising years for me as royal correspondent.
I have a duty to write and inform the public, but it was a strain on me.
The royal family became so fragmented that family members became foes, insults were hurled at elders and the media became their battlefield.
Impressively — though surprisingly to many — Dalindyebo, when released from jail in December 2019, reconciled with the royal family of Abathembu led by Nkosi Thanduxolo Mtirara, which in 2011 had lobbied for Dalindyebo’s dethronement.
However, he snubbed Azenathi and those in the committee led by Thanduxolo’s brother. Nkosi Thandisizwe Mtirara. He questioned whether Azenathi was his son, further bringing his family under public scrutiny and leading to gossip.
Their relationship became toxic as they dragged each other to court, laying countercharges, and the worst was feared.
On hearing the reconciliation news, the whole Mthatha bureau was happy. I wept in silence, I was so overwhelmed.
It took my colleagues, Ntshobane and Ziyanda Zweni, to ensure my story reached the newsdesk.
I remembered the bumpy journey the royal pair had travelled since October 2015, and the good and the plethora of bad stories I wrote about them.
As journalists we do not find joy in writing about family feuds.
The picture of Zwelibanzi and Azenathi hugging merrily on Monday reminded me of a similar picture I took in October 2015.
Seeing pictures and videos of the king rejoicing with his grandsons hit a weak spot in me. It was so moving, so beautiful, so amazing, I said “Hallelujah!” as I wept alone in the cab of the company bakkie.
I was also impressed and moved by Usikhumbulile, who went and met her father-in-law and brought his grandsons to him, even though she had never talked to him before, or since, her marriage in 2016.
“I was praying, expecting any kind of a reception, knowing how toxic the relationship between my husband and my father-in-law was.
“But the reception and warm welcome from Mam’ Nokwanda [the king’s wife Queen Nokwanda ] and the king was amazing. I was overwhelmed.
“I cried tears of joy, especially when I saw the king mingling joyfully with his grandsons.
“We spent the whole day there and they asked us to visit them frequently. Another thing that moved me was how happy my kids were to meet my husband’s young siblings — their aunts and uncle — and play together,” she said.
“I hope this is a genuine rebirth of unity and not a fallacy — something that will stand the test of time.”
The entire royal family, Amadlomo and Abathembu should rally behind Zwelibanzi and Azenathi and join the move towards unity.
Their unity is paramount for Abathembu.
But for now it is still fragile and needs to be handled with care, and the foundation it is laid upon solidified and reinforced by the royal family.
Azenathi is now doing his second degree, an LLB, and his wife a Btech, showing he listened to Zwelibanzi’s 2015 advice about empowering himself with education.