The Supreme Court of Appeal (Sca) sitting in Bloemfontein in the Free State province has reserved judgment in the case between King Misuzulu, Prince Misuzulu, Prince Mbonisi and others.
This was after the full bench of the court spent two days listening to arguments from the lawyers of President Cyril Ramaphosa, lawyers for King Misuzulu, lawyers for Prince Simakade and Prince Mbonisi, who wants Prince Buzabazi to be the next King of the Zulu nation.
The court hearing came after Judge Norman Davis of the Pretoria High Court in December 2023 set aside the 2022 recognition of King Misuzulu as the king of the Zulu nation.
That forced Ramaphosa to appeal the ruling with the SCA. He did so with hopes for a different outcome that would maintain the current status quo in the Zulu kingdom.
Great wife theory challenged
First to take the podium on day two was Advocate Thabani Msduku SC, who was representing Prince Mbonisi. The latter’s bone of contention is that the Zulu royal family was not accorded the space to identify the successor. The said successor was take over after his late half-brother, King Goodwill Zwelithini.
In the main, Masuku argued that the argument that King Misuzulu was identified because his mother was a great wife is flawed and should be set aside.
At a later stage, Masuku told the court that the mother of the late King Goodwill Zwelithini, Queen Thomo Ndwandwe, was not the great wife. And his father, King Bhekuzulu, did not come from the great wife.
“His father was not the child of a great wife. So, where is this great wife theory coming from? So, we say it is important that as we discuss culture. We do it and even experts would differ on what culture is,” Masuku told the court.
Simakade ‘rightful king’
Masuku’s arguments were a follow-up to a submission that was left hanging during the court’s first sitting on Wednesday.
Next on the hot seat was Advocate Alan Dodson SC on behalf of Prince Simakade. He told the court that Prince Simakade was traditionally adopted by the great wife, Queen Mantfombi Dlamini-Zulu. As such, he is the rightful prince for the throne.
However, he was cheated of the throne because due processes to identify the next King were not followed.
In his final submission on behalf of King Misuzulu, Advocate Tembeka Ngcukaitobi told the court that Prince Mbonisi and Prince Simakade have filed papers that contradict each other’s claims.
Contradicting claims
He pointed out that Prince Mbonisi says there is no great wife, yet the latter claims he was traditionally adopted (ukufakwa esiswini) by the great wife.
He also pointed out that Prince Mbonisi said the meeting that identified King Misuzulu was held prematurely. Certain cleansing ceremonies were not held. Yet he (Prince Mbonisi) attended a parallel family meeting on May 5, 2021 to identify a candidate for the throne. That was even before those ceremonies had not yet concluded.
“Prince Simakade’s case depends on ukufakwa [esiswini],” Ngcukaitobi told the court. He added that the matter has already been customarily determined and closed.
