Durban — Pressure is mounting on KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube to clarify whether her office will settle King Misuzulu’s spiralling legal bills or not.
King Misuzulu is in a court battle with his half-brother, Prince Simakade Zulu, over the throne.
The premier has been mum on the matter since the Daily News article in April was published, which revealed that the king owed R8 million in legal bills to law firm Strauss Daly.
In that article, Dube-Ncube said her accounting officer was responsible for the processing of such payments. Now Strauss Daly said that it has not received money from the KZN government.
When Dube-Ncube delivered her budget, she was again asked the question about the king’s legal bill. However, she said she was not prepared to discuss such matters in public.
On Tuesday, the king’s Royal Agent, Prince Africa Zulu, of the Onkweni royal house, again pleaded with the premier’s office to do the right thing and settle the mounting bills in order to allow the king’s new legal team to access all relevant documentation ahead of the October court trial.
“The public is watching and I am just pleading with the relevant authorities in the premier’s office to deal with the issue of the legal fees at once. As I have said before, His Majesty’s legal affairs are handled by the provincial office of the premier, no place else,” said Zulu.
Requests for comments were sent to the premier's office last week but this publication had still not received a response. A reminder was sent on Tuesday, but Dube-Ncube’s spokesperson, Bongi Gwala, had not responded by the time of publication. This newspaper has recently reported that the bill was expected to double because the R8m had accumulated up to January last year, and with the new calculations since then until the termination of the services by the king two weeks ago, the figure was expected to come close to R20m.
In the affidavit, deposed by the king in relation to his protracted throne battle with his half-brother, the king confirmed he was staying in Durban, which he referred to as his residence in the affidavit.
On this matter, Dube-Ncube said her office was responsible for the support and welfare of the king, but because of operational and security reasons she would not be drawn into discussing his movements and whereabouts.
The king’s representative in the House of Traditional Leaders, Prince Simphiwe Zulu, said the king was advised to leave his palace for security reasons but that he did not know at whose cost he was staying in Durban.
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