Kingship dispute resurrected
THE dispute over the Zulu kingship is far from over after the Gauteng High Court on Monday declared the decision to recognise Misuzulu kaZwelithini as the Zulu king as unlawful and invalid.
Handing over his judgment, Judge Norman Davis ordered President Cyril Ramaphosa to appoint a committee to conduct an investigation and provide a report regarding allegations that the identification of Misuzulu was not done in terms of traditional laws and customs.
University of Zululand-based historian and political analyst Dr Maxwell Shamase urged the Zulu people to 'calm down' and said the court ruling should not cause panic, even though this is happening for the first time.
“The court ruling is not saying King Misuzulu kaZwelithini is an illegitimate king, and it’s not saying the wrong person was appointed to take over the throne, but it says President Ramaphosa did not follow the correct channels when he recognised King Misuzulu as the rightful heir to the throne,” said Shamase.
“In other words, this means President Ramaphosa must go back and follow the correct procedures as the court believes the royal family meetings the president relied on to issue a certificate of recognition to the king are under dispute.
"Prince Simakade alleges that in those meetings, there were people present who should not have been allowed to attend.
“Now the question we need to ask ourselves is: 'what constitutes the legitimacy of royal family meetings?' as all 12 houses were represented.
“He also disputes that some core family members were not present at those meetings, so another question arises:
'is there any provision for core family members?' that can be used to nullify the royal family meetings,” he said.
The way forward
Shamase further explained that a task team led by former KZN premier Willies Mchunu recommended that President Ramaphosa wait for all court processes to be finalised, or set up a committee to investigate whether all processes were followed, as per Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act 3 of 2019, before issuing a certificate of recognition.
“President Ramaphosa used the affidavit submitted to Pietermaritzburg High Court Judge Madondo by the late prime minister [Buthelezi] to the Zulu nation, on the basis that there was no one disputing that King
Misuzulu was the legitimate heir to the throne,” he said.
“But Prince Simakade believed Prince Buthelezi had no right to call a royal family meeting; I strongly believe Buthelezi did have a right to do so.
“The fact is the king is born, he is not chosen or voted into the kingship position. According to my understanding, they think Isilo has to be chosen and/or voted into the position. And they are complaining about his character,” said Shamase.
The founder of Indonsa Yesizwe Cultural Organisation, Professor Musa Xulu urged the Zulu royal family to come together and fix this matter because 'President Ramaphosa can’t fix this alone'.
“He needs the royal family to fix this and resubmit the motivation. The court ruling means King Misuzulu is currently not recognised by the State as king of the Zulus,” said Xulu.
Speaking on behalf of Prince Simakade kaZwelithini, Prince Mandakapheli said the matter was taken to court by the royal family, and Prince Simakade was a person of interest.
“They were challenging President
Ramaphosa for recognising King Misuzulu as they argue some processes were flawed.
“They wanted this matter to be reviewed. The judge gave President Ramaphosa 14 days to rectify the matter, so at this stage, we are waiting to see what's next,” he said.
King Misuzulu's spokesperson, Prince Africa said the king and his legal team are still studying the court judgment.