King MisuZulu ka Zwelithini. (RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP via Getty Images)
A rival faction in the Zulu royal family has gone to court to try to stop King MisuZulu kaZwelithini from exercising his powers as the sole trustee of the Ingonyama Trust — and from appointing a successor to traditional prime minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who died in September.
The king’s uncle, prince Mbonisi Ka Bhekuzulu, who is his late father’s brother, brought an application for an urgent interdict against the monarch — whose installation he is also challenging — in the Pietermaritzburg high court this week.
Mbonisi and several other royals have also asked the court to bar the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) — which administers 3 million hectares of traditionally controlled land on behalf of the king — from funding his nephew’s legal defence of the throne.
Mbonisi backs the claim of Simakade, the half-brother of MisuZulu, and is part of his court application to set aside the recognition of the monarch by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2022.
The dispute over the throne arose after the death of King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu in March 2021, delaying the eventual appointment of MisuZulu, which is still being contested.
The matter is set to be heard in the Pretoria high court this month.
In his application, Mbonisi asked the court to set aside the king’s decisions regarding the trust — which include the dismissal of its former chairperson, Jerome Ngwenya, by the king over a dubious R41 million investment exposed by the Mail & Guardian.
The firing of Ngwenya, who had held the post for two decades, sparked a backlash from Buthelezi, who fell out with the king over the latter’s refusal to back down and reinstate him. The conflict had not been resolved by the time of the death of Buthelezi, who had backed MizuZulu’s ascension to the throne.
In papers, Mbonisi said that he was acting in his capacity as the last remaining elder in the royal house and that his intervention was in the public interest, as well as in the interest of the Zulu monarchy.
He asked the court to interdict the king from “exercising the powers of the trustee of the Ingonyama Trust” from convening any meetings with amakhosi to “discuss the affairs of the Zulu kingdom” and from “giving directives” to the chiefs on matters involving the AmaZulu nation.
Mbonisi further asked the court to interdict the king from “appointing a person to serve as Undunankulu and/or Prime Minister of the Zulu Monarch and of the Kingdom of AmaZulu”.
The prince asked that the ITB be interdicted from paying out any funds from the trust “for the personal benefit” of the king, pending the filing a review application which he would bring within 30 days “in which the financial decisions and administration of those funds by the trustee and the board is challenged”.
The court should also stop the board and its officials, who are co-respondents, “from dispensing funds of the Ingonyama Trust for the purpose of funding any litigation involving the lawfulness of the [president’s] decision to recognise [MisuZulu] as the King of Amazulu Kingdom”.
Mbonisi also asked the court to review and set aside all decisions of the trust and the ITB from the time MisuZulu was appointed as king, and that it order the premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Nomusa Dube-Ncube, to stop paying the king’s stipend and to withdraw his official transport.
The decision to appoint inkosi Thanduyise Mzimela as ITB chairperson should be set aside, along with any decisions taken by the board, and the decision by Thoko Didiza, the minister of agriculture, land reform and rural development, to appoint the current board.
In addition, Mbonisi asked the court to set aside all board decisions “in disbursing funds for any purpose other than to advance the interests of the beneficiaries of the trust” and for a declaration that “trust funds generated in Ingonyama Trust land utilisation are payable without deduction to the respective beneficiaries whose land is the source of such funds”.
He said that there was “clear evidence of harmful conduct” by the king which “negatively impacts on the status, dignity and unity of the Zulu kingdom” and “the ability of its monarch to promote and protect the socio-economic and political interests of the kingdom of AmaZulu”.
Relief in the form of the interventions requested from the court was “necessary and important” to protect land and resources belonging to the kingdom from being “sold to the highest bidder”.
It was necessary to “preserve the dignity of the Zulu throne whose sacredness has been desecrated by a plethora of unlawful activities conducted by [MisuZulu]”, Mbonisi said.
He said the government had ignored the legal challenge over the throne and gone ahead with the appointment of MisuZulu, who was using the position for his own personal and financial gain.
It would be wrong to wait for the outcome of the court ruling on MisuZulu’s kingship as “there will be no kingdom for AmaZulu because their land will be gone”.
Mbonisi said the king was a director of 13 companies which appeared to have been set up to “trade on the position of kingship” and that this was a risk to the finances of the kingdom.
The king’s uncle accused him of unseemly behaviour, including swearing at Buthelezi and appearing drunk in public.
He said the ITB had been forced to pay a R57 000 liquor bill run up by the king during a conference with amakhosi and that the trust’s money was being abused in such a fashion that an urgent intervention by the court was required.
The matter is set to be heard on 21 November.
ITB spokesperson Simphiwe Mxakaza said that they were unable to comment and referred the M&G to Didiza’s office.
Didiza’s spokesperson Reggie Ngboco declined to comment.