AbaThembu nation now without a leader
King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo’s arrest means that the abaThembu nation is left without a leader.
|||Mthatha - King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo’s arrest on Wednesday means that the abaThembu nation is left without a leader and the royal family have been urged to step into the breach.
Spokesperson for the abaThembu nation, Daludumo Mtirara, said this meant that “the royal family must pick up the loose ends and take the kingdom of abaThembu forward”.
The Mthatha High Court had ordered that Dalindyebo hand himself over following his conviction and sentence for crimes that date back to the 1990s.
Dalindyebo, who exhausted all legal appeals and who failed with a last-minute petition to the justice minister on Tuesday, has begun serving his 12-year sentence.
Correctional services spokesman Manelisi Wolela on Thursday confirmed the king reported for prison before midnight on Wednesday, in line with the court order.
Mtirara said on Thursday morning that the royal family had “resolved last night to schedule a meeting of King Ngangelizwe Royal Family on January 4, 2016, followed by a meeting of the greater Dlomo Royal Family on January 6, 2016 and a meeting of the abaThembu Nation on January 8, 2016”.
All of these meetings, he noted, would be held at the royal residence in Bumbane in the Eastern Cape.
He added that the royal family “intends to rebuild its relation with the victims and their families”.
Mtirara said the royal family “would like to put it categorically that only King Ngangelizwe Royal Family members are expected to attend the first meeting on January 4, 2016”.
Elders in the royal family were still providing messages of support to Dalindyebo’s immediate family, including the family of the late King Jonguhlanga Sabata Dalindyebo.
The royal family has appealed to the abaThembu nation to “remain calm and allow the King Ngangelizwe Royal Family to direct and guide the nation in collaboration with the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs”.
ANA