King Misuzulu Zulu praying during his coronation at the Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban on October 29, 2022, during the handover of the official certificate of recognition. (Photo by RAJESH JANTILAL/AFP via Getty Images)
A court challenge to Zulu king MisuZulu kaZwelithini’s appointment of Zululand district mayor Thulasizwe Buthelezi as his traditional prime minister appears to be on the cards.
Lawyers for his uncle, Prince Mbonisi, have written to the monarch informing him that the decision is unlawful — as is his firing of Ingonyama Trust Board chairperson inkosi Thanduyise Mzimela — due to the ongoing judicial challenges to his legitimacy and authority.
Last month the king appointed Buthelezi, a member of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) national council and mayor of the Zululand district municipality, to replace the late former party president, Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
The monarch, who is the sole trustee of the Ingonyama Trust, on whose behalf the board administers nearly three million hectares of traditionally controlled land in KwaZulu-Natal, then appointed himself as chairperson.
The king, whose legitimacy and control of the board are subject to separate legal challenges by members of the royal family led by Mbonisi, is entitled to do so in terms of the legislation in terms of which the trust and board were created.
Last December the Pretoria high court ruled that that process of appointing MisuZulu had been flawed, and that President Cyril Ramaphosa should appoint an investigative panel into claims his selection was unlawful.
The president has made an application for leave to appeal the matter, while the court challenge to MisuZulu’s authority over the board — and the stipend and support he receives from the government — is set to be heard on 26 April.
In a letter to MisuZulu’s legal representative, one of the lawyers for Mbonisi and other members of the royal family, Barnabas Xulu, said they had been instructed that the king had made “two major governance decisions” despite the interdict and the leave to appeal both being pending.
“The appointments of Thulasizwe Buthelezi as the new Zulu nation prime minister, and himself as the chairperson of the Ingonyama Trust Board chair have been widely broadcasted in the media and can be regarded as your client’s insistence to undermine the rule of law,” Xulu wrote.
“It is our clients’ contention that his decisions remain unlawful in the face of the pending judicial challenge.”
Xulu said the lawyers had been instructed to attach a copy of this letter in reply to MisuZulu’s answering papers in the ITB interdict, which were due for filing by 8 March.
Mbonisi and the other royals have asked the court to interdict MisuZulu from exercising his powers over the ITB, and to stop the body from paying legal fees in his court battles over the throne.
They had also asked the Pietermaritzburg high court to prevent the premier of KwaZulu-Natal from paying his salary and other personal benefits, and to have the appointment of a new board last year by Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza set aside.
On Thursday Didiza met with the monarch for the first time since he made the changes at the ITB, which is funded by her department, to discuss his proposals for greater involvement of amakhosi in the administration and beneficiation of the Trust.
It is not clear at this point what was the outcome of the meeting, requested by the monarch.
Buthelezi and Didiza’s office had not responded to the Mail & Guardian’s requests for comment at the time of publication.