The members of the Zulu royal family in support of Prince Simakade for the throne have claimed that King Misuzulu has once again failed to file his court papers with the Pretoria High Court.
They claim that King Misuzulu missed the first deadline, which forced the case to be postponed from May 31 this year to October.
NEWS: Members of the Zulu royal family in support of Prince Simakade for the throne have claimed that King Misuzulu has once again failed to file his papers with the Pretoria High Court. At the heart of the failure is the crucial affidavit by Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi. @IOL
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) September 2, 2023
They claim that the new failure to file the papers implies that the case may be postponed again.
This was revealed by Prince Thokozani Zulu in Durban on Saturday where together with Prince Mazwi Zulu and Mxolisi Zulu briefed the media on the latest regarding the court case.
In the court case, Prince Simakade, the first-born son of the late King Goodwill Zwelithini and his backers within the royal family want the Pretoria High Court to set aside the recognition of Misuzulu KaZwelithini and coronation as the King of the Zulu nation.
NEWS: The press conference by members of the Zulu royal family in support of Prince Simakade is over. It was about the upcoming court case against King Misuzulu KaZwelithini and the proposal to rename Nongoma local municipality after the late King Goodwill Zwelithini. @IOL pic.twitter.com/3uCtnTxCry
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) September 2, 2023
They argued that the recognition by President Cyril Ramaphosa is unlawful as he was identified in a wrongly constituted meeting in May 2021 where even people who are not core members of the royal family attended and had a say, thus producing a flawed outcome.
They argue that Prince Simakade Jackson Zulu is the rightful heir to the throne.
Giving a detailed report about the latest regarding the case, Prince Thokozani Zulu revealed that King Misuzulu filed an unsigned affidavit by the ailing Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
Prince Buthelezi who is the monarch’s traditional prime minister is on record saying he won’t sign and file the affidavit if King Misuzulu insist on dumping their old lawyers and refuses to reinstate former Judge Jerome Ngwenya as the chairperson of the Ingonyama Trust Board.
“The court directed that all parties concerned had to file their papers at a particular time, Prince (they call him Prince as they say they don’t recognise him as King) Misuzulu was directed to file his affidavit on or before the 30th of June, which he did.
“And Isilo (King) identified by the Zulu royal family was then directed to file his replying affidavit on the 28th of July.
“Now, and further to that, Prince Misuzulu had to file his heads of arguments on the 18th of August, which has failed to do,” he alleged.
He said this has made to assume that King Misuzulu is trying to score another adjournment with the court.
“And it appears to us that his intention is to impose a further adjournment on the 16th of October because the matter was adjourned for the 16th to the 18th of October,” Prince Thokozani said at the press conference.
Furthermore, Prince said on August 14, 2023, King Misuzulu’s legal team wrote a letter to all parties and said they would file for a condonation stating why they have not filed their heads of arguments.
“Now, amongst other reasons, they are stipulating that Isilo’s (Prince Simakade) is replete with new evidence, which is not true.
“But what happened is that Isilo pointed out a number of irregularities in the minutes (of the May 2021 meeting, the attendance register and the agenda that was attached on his own accord by the second respondent being Prince Misuzulu,” he said.
He added that they intend to withdraw the unsigned affidavit by Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi and replace it with an old one from files of the Pietermaritzburg High Court where the matter was first heard.
“In their letter, they indicated that they could end up withdrawing the unsigned affidavit of Prince of KwaPhindangene (Buthelezi) and filing an affidavit that the Prince of KwaPhindangene filed in the three consolidated cases in the Pietermaritzburg High Court,” he alleged.
He said their gripe with doing that is that Prince Simakade was not part of that case which went in favour of King Misuzulu.
The briefing took place on the background of King Misuzulu hosting the first leg of the annual Umkhosi Womhlanga (Zulu reed dance) at Emachobeni royal palace in Ngwavuma in northern KwaZulu-Natal along the South Africa-Eswatini border.
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
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