A bid for an urgent interdict by Prince Mbonisi Zulu, the brother of late King Goodwill Zwelithini, to stop the coronation of his nephew, King Misuzulu, next month has failed.
Pretoria high court judge Noluntu Bam struck the application off the roll, ruling that it was not urgent.
She ordered Prince Mbonisi to pay the costs.
This means the coronation can go ahead on August 13 — in spite of a pending application launched by Prince Mbonisi and some other members of the royal family seeking to review the decision by President Cyril Ramaphosa to recognise King Misuzulu as the monarch.
Prince Mbonisi claimed the “the process was hijacked by Zulu prime minister Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, whose interests appear to be largely to advance his political interest”.
“The manipulation of the status and name of the Zulu royal family to advance his political ambitions was deeply resented by the late king, who tried hard to extricate himself and the kingdom from the political claws of Prince Buthelezi,” he said in his affidavit.
“Misuzulu has been misled by him into believing he is the king by birth and divine rights.”
His lawyers argued on Tuesday that the interdict stopping the coronation was necessary because it could not be easily reversed.
Advocate Thabani Masuku said Buthelezi himself had warned of “bloodshed” if his clients continued to “assert their rights”. He said they knew they were “in a dangerous game” but they were “no longer prepared to fear”.
They had been labelled by Buthelezi as “royal rebels spoiling for fight”, he said.
“On August 13 a king will be presented to the world, and yet the court has yet to determine if he is the lawful king.”
He said apart from the review application, there was also an appeal pending before the Supreme Court of Appeal against a ruling by KZN judge president Isaac Madondo who, in March this year, effectively ruled that King Misuzulu was the undisputed successor to the throne.
These allegations have been made maliciously to scandalise me ... the allegation that I have committed incest with my sisters is fiction
— Prince Mbonisi Zulu
While hearing argument, Bam questioned whether the application was indeed urgent, when Ramaphosa had officially recognised King Misuzulu in March this year.
Advocate Griffiths Madonsela, for Prince Buthelezi and King Misuzulu, said explanations given for the delay in seeking the urgent interdict were, in part, lies.
He said Prince Mbonisi was the “main protagonist” because none of the other family members, named as applicants, had submitted confirmatory or supporting affidavits. He said Mbonisi had tried, and failed, to stop the recognition of King Misuzulu three times.
Allegations of fraud relating to the late king’s will were also a “red herring” because the royal family had made its views known on who should succeed.
In the application, Prince Mbonisi claimed the family had not been properly consulted over who should succeed King Goodwill Zwelithini, who died in March last year.
He claimed King Misuzulu was not fit and proper to be king, claiming that he had committed incest and had fathered two children with his sisters “and incest is an abomination in Zulu culture”.
Prince Mbonisi also accused King Misuzulu of once insulting his father in a “rage of drunkenness” and claimed he had also been in rehabilitation for drug addiction.
King Misuzulu, in his affidavit, said the allegations were pure fiction.
“These allegations have been made maliciously to scandalise me ... the allegation that I have committed incest with my sisters is fiction,” he said.
“It is no secret that I consume alcohol. However, I do not suffer from alcohol or drug abuse. The fact that I consume alcohol does not disqualify from being king under the Khoi San Act or under Zulu customary law.”
Lawyers acting for him and Buthelezi, applied to have the allegations struck from the record.
Since the death of King Zwelithini, divisions in some quarters of the royal family have been running deep.
In January, Madondo heard arguments in three related applications.
In one, Ntandoyenkosi Zulu and Ntombizosuthu Zulu-Duma sought an interdict against the coronation of Prince Misuzulu, citing the alleged “forgery” of Zwelithini’s will.
There was no dispute ... no grievances were lodged and no-one else is laying claim to the throne
— KZN judge president Isaac Madondo
Madondo said, however, that the succession issue had nothing to do with the will. This was because the king, in his will, had named Queen Mantfombi Dlamini Zulu — considered in Zulu custom to be the “great wife” because she hailed from Eswatini royalty — as his heir.
She died before she could ascend to the throne. She named her eldest son, Prince Misuzulu, as her successor “which was in accordance with traditional law and custom” and her will had not been challenged, Madondo said.
He said no matter what was written in a will, it was the prerogative of the royal family, taking into account Zulu tradition and customs, to appoint leadership.
One hundred and forty members had met in May last year and agreed that Prince Misuzulu should be king. “There was no dispute ... no grievances were lodged and no-one else is laying claim to the throne,” Madondo said.
He also dismissed with costs an application by Queen Sibongile Winifred Zulu, the king’s first wife, for a declaratory order from the court that her civil marriage in 1969 was in community of property, which would entitle her to a half share of the king’s estate.
She wanted an order that the king was “precluded” from entering into customary marriages with his five other wives.
Madondo said “no practical effect” would be achieved by this and the queen should lodge her claim with the executor of the estate.
He also dismissed an application by Prince Mbonisi, who had launched an urgent application in December last year asking for an interdict against a “rumoured” coronation of Prince Misuzulu which was allegedly going to take place the next day.
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