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The self-proclaimed king of the amaHlubi clan, Eshowe businessman Bryce Mthimkhulu, faces arrest after defying a court interdict last weekend that bans him from referring to himself as a king.
The provincial cooperative governance MEC Nomusa Dube-Ncube went to court seeking an order to stop Mthimkhulu from continuing to act as a monarch. His rival for the title, Muziwenkosi Johannes Radebe of Estcourt, also known as King Langalibalele II, also secured a similar order against Mthimkhulu from the same court on Friday.
Several thousand members of the amaHlubi clan participated in an Umkhosi wokwe shwama (celebrating first fruits) ceremony presided over by Mthimkhulu at his family home at Mbongolwana near Endumeni in Zululand last weekend. This was despite the interdict granted by the Pietermaritzburg High Court last Friday.
In terms of the court order, Mthimkhulu should not use the title, appoint amakhosi [chiefs] or izinduna [headmen] or carry out any other activity aligned to the leadership of the amaHlubi clan.
The defiant Mthimkhulu claims to be a descendant of AmaHlubi King Mthimkhulu II, also known as Ngwadlazibomvu, who ruled between 1800 and 1818. He ignored the court order and went ahead with a gala dinner on Friday night at his family homestead.
Mthimkhulu also embarrassed the government in 2014 by lodging a massive land claim “on behalf of the amaHlubi”, covering most of South Africa’s eastern seaboard.
He told City Press on Wednesday that he would continue with his activities, which include pushing for a land claim to be resolved. He and his supporters want compensation for the loss of the amaHlubi nation’s ancestral land and livelihood. They argue that this happened after their kingdom was obliterated and King Langalibalele was imprisoned on Robben Island in 1875 following the battle of Bushman’s Neck. Mthimkhulu has appointed a team to quantify the claim.
Mthimkhulu also set up several business ventures on behalf of the amaHlubi – including a HlubiMobile cellular network that allows users free calls to other Hlubis registered on the network. He said all his business initiatives were continuing in spite of the threats from provincial department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta).
“Everything is legitimate and in place. I wish you were here to see this,” said the flamboyant Mthimkhulu. “We have initiatives in agriculture and we are busy training young people in various skills projects. The mobile telephone initiative is going well and we have several other new initiatives that we are looking at.
“We recently held a meeting to consolidate our assessment of the extent of the land claim and are getting ready to press ahead with that. Things are absolutely on track here.”
He vowed that the provincial government would not arrest him. “It will never happen ... I have been recognised by Cogta nationally and by international forums of traditional leaders. Cogta in KwaZulu-Natal is acting in a partisan manner because of our land claim and the contestation with King Goodwill Zwelithini. That is the crux of the matter here,” he said.
However, Lennox Mabaso, spokesperson for Dube-Ncube, said the court order would be enforced and that harsher measures would be taken against Mthimkhulu.
Mabaso said they had received complaints from community members and other traditional leaders
in the province that Mthimkhulu had been acting as a “self-appointed king” and had been creating confusion by appointing izinduna and amakhosi illegally.
“As a government department that oversees traditional institutions in KwaZulu-Natal, it is our duty to protect the integrity of these institutions and the legitimacy of all recognised royalty,” he said.
“The conduct of this individual is in direct violation of the legislation that governs the recognition of traditional leaders.
“Neither the president nor the premier has recognised this individual in any capacity,” Mabaso said.
“We are collating evidence and analysing references to him as king or traditional leader and studying his pronouncements to verify if there is contempt of court. We are also checking to see if the police managed to serve him the interdict on Friday,” he said.
