Thembu king to ditch ANC for DA

NELSON Mandela’s nephew and the traditional king of the Thembus, King Buleyekhaya Dalindyebo, says he will join the DA when its leader, Helen Zille, visits him – and he’s encouraging all his subjects to do the same.

Speaking this week at his royal palace in Bumbane, about 6km outside Mandela’s home town of Qunu, his latest claim comes hot on the heels of his scathing attack last weekend on President Jacob Zuma and the ANC government during a prayer service for Madiba.

King Dalindyebo, who rules an estimated 200 Thembu chiefs across South Africa – including Mandela’s grandson Mandla Mandela, who is the traditional chief of Mvezo in the Eastern Cape – told Weekend Argus he was disappointed in what he called the “corrupt” ANC government, that he was determined to join the DA, and would urge all his followers to do the same.

Zille, he said, was expected to visit him in Bumbane soon, and he planned to join the DA during that visit.

Although King Dalindyebo’s personal assistant, traditional chief Nkosiphendule Mzimvubu, said he was trying to arrange the meeting, the king would first have to check dates with the DA’s Eastern Cape leader, Athol Trollip.

The king said he had visited Zille in Cape Town, and spoken to her on the phone.

“She received me with high generosity in Cape Town last year. I have written to her and I have spoken to Trollip,” he said, adding he was “very excited” to “become free of the bondage of petty politics”.

“When she visits, I will join the party. I will join it of my own free will. I have already told my comrades.”

Some were angry, according to the king, while others thought he was joking.

“I have slept on my decision every night, and ultimately that’s the decision I have made,” he said.

The monarch also spoke about how Struggle heroes had sacrificed their futures for democracy, but that that sacrifice now seemed to have been in vain.

“If you look at the history of our revolution, so many people have sacrificed their lives. But look at the corruption that there is now, not only in the president’s office, but also in every municipal office.

“There’s corruption in everything the ANC has its hands on.

“Anyone who doesn’t go along with that agenda is seen as an interference. Everyone who won’t accept corruption is treated like a spy.”

The ANC, he charged, was no longer “speaking the language of the grassroots masses”.

He hoped his followers would “not be ashamed” to join the DA now that he had taken the step.

King Dalindyebo also repeated earlier accusations he has made that Mandla Mandela and others were “orchestrating my downfall”.

“The biggest question is: Who cares better than Helen Zille? Does Zuma care better? I don’t think so,” he said.

Asked to comment yesterday, Zille’s spokesman Cameron Arendse said he had no record of any recent conversation between Zille and the king.

But a highly-placed source said she was considering going to see him, although at a later stage.

Trollip could not be reached for comment

ANC spokesman Jackson Mthembu could also not be reached for comment yesterday, but the party has previously called the king’s remarks “unfortunate”, and said he should allow his “subjects” to decide for themselves who they would vote for in the upcoming elections.