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Release King Dalindyebo

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AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Zwelibanzi Dalindyebo. Picture: Gallo Images/Daily Dispatch/Lulamile Feni/File
AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Zwelibanzi Dalindyebo. Picture: Gallo Images/Daily Dispatch/Lulamile Feni/File

The call for the release of AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo by the Azanian People’s Organisation (Azapo) should be seen as part of the broader struggle by the liberation movement to defeat remnants of colonialism.

Inspired by the Black Consciousness ideology of Bantu Biko, Azapo is the custodian of African heritage. It is that heritage that the colonialists sought to destroy after robbing our forefathers of their land and their wealth, including livestock such as cattle, goats and sheep.

Since the arrival in April 1652 of the Dutch colonialists, led by Jan van Riebeeck, our people – led by their kings, including Hintsa, Makhado, Cetshwayo, Sekhukhune and many others – fought wars of resistance to colonialism. While they won some battles, they lost the war to the Dutch and English colonialists.

As a matter of policy, the English demoted all kings to the status of chiefs because as far as they were concerned, there was only one monarch: the English monarch. Traditional leaders who resisted colonialism were brutally murdered, and others dethroned and forced into banishment. One of those who suffered the barbarism of the British was King Hintsa, whose body was dismembered and his head taken as a trophy of colonial conquest to England.

As part of the grand plan of colonialism, the colonialists took all the powers of our traditional leaders and reduced them to “mere messengers” of the colonial government.

Our struggle for liberation was waged on at least three fronts. We waged a military struggle, a political struggle and a cultural struggle. We understood that culture was a crucial component of our liberation; that is why we were clear that once we defeated the settler-colonial regime, we would be able to restore the traditional leadership of our various people.

If April 27 1994 was a real break with the past, the new political dispensation would have created a space for our traditional leaders. We all know that April 27 was, on many fronts, a false dawn. We did not get our land back from the descendants of colonialists. We did not get the wealth redistributed. We did not get the objectives of the cultural revolution we were all hoping for.

All we got was a vote under a Constitution that ensured that the land thieves kept the land and all the benefits that they got through colonialism and apartheid.

Read: 'Just relax': Ramaphosa is taking AbaThembu king pardon 'seriously'

African customs and tradition did not only become subservient to the Roman-Dutch law of the country, but in many instances, these practices were also criminalised in the post-apartheid era.

So, when King Dalindyebo was administering justice in an area that he believed was under his control, he found himself on the wrong side of the Roman-Dutch law. He was arrested and given a jail term.

To us as Azapo, the arrest and prison term imposed on the king was not just an insult to the AbaThembu king and to the entire institution of traditional leadership; the arrest and, ultimately, the humiliation of the king is evidence that colonialism has not yet been defeated.

Some colonised minds among us may be quick to argue that the law is the law and it should be applied to all, without regard to any status. That is too simplistic, reckless and dangerous. The law has to serve the people and not the other way round.

The country’s revered Constitution is explicit about protection of private property, including land. This means that if we were to use the Constitution as a guide, we should leave the current land ownership patterns as they are, where more than 70% of the land is owned by the white minority of less than 15%. There is no justification for this. And it is simply logical that the land question has to be addressed if we are to ensure the long-term stability of our country.

Equally, if the Constitution was drafted by Eurocentric apologists who viewed shunning everything African as the most progressive element of their work, it should be corrected to reflect African values so that it can talk to ordinary people of Dutywa and Cala.

Our people, from Musina to Cape Town, should see the Constitution as a reflection of their values and aspirations. The Constitution should not be an alien document that is seen to be imposing a European value system on our people. If that is the case, it would not have legitimacy and it would be difficult to enforce it.

For Azapo, the release of the king of the AbaThembu should be the first step to Africanise our country.

It should be possible to align African traditional leadership with the Constitution. The English colonialists came here to destroy traditional leadership institutions, but they have preserved theirs in Buckingham Palace. We should not allow them to continue their colonialist agenda even when the government is led by black people.

Thokoane is the president of Azapo

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