Attempts are being made to repair the rifts in the AbaThembu royal family between those who defended the now imprisoned King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo and those who called for his prosecution. The family has been divided since 2012 over what some of his relatives described as the king's "unroyal behaviour".The feud extends to the Mandela family. Dalindyebo and his supporters backed Makaziwe Mandela, who clashed with Mandla Mandela over who should be the head of the family. Daludumo Mtirara and his group supported Mandla.Dalindyebo is serving 12 years for a number of offences involving violence.It emerged yesterday that President Jacob Zuma had referred to the Department of Justice and Correctional Services a request from the Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA that he pardon Dalindyebo.For the first time in five years factions of the AbaThembu royal family met on Sunday night, at the Garden Court Hotel, in Mthatha, to discuss issues affecting the throne.Each faction put forward a candidate for the kingship.One grouping supports the king's son, Prince Azenathi Dalindyebo, another his brother, Prince Mankunku Mthandeni Dalindyebo, and a third the king's wife, Queen Nokwanda Dalindyebo.The meeting was called by the director-general of the Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Charles Nwaila, on the instruction of Minister David van Rooyen, to resolve the disputes in the royal family.After five hours the family representatives emerged in what appeared to be high spirits, joking, hugging each other and shaking hands.It was the first time in recent years that the royal family has publicly displayed a semblance of unity.Mtirara, speaking on behalf of all the factions, said the royal family as in the process of reconciliation."It's one of the historic sessions where members of the royal family converged under one roof and discussed issues that affect our kingdom."We cannot be disjointed forever. We are one family, brothers and sisters," he said.Nwaila said he was happy with the outcome of the meeting.He said the solutions to the problems faced by the AbaThembu royal family lay with them and no one else."Our role as the department is to continue supporting our kingships."We do everything possible to make sure that they find each other and today we have seen that."The royal family is expected to meet on Friday next week, without the participation of a government representative, in an effort to iron out more issues...