All of the issues around identifying who should be the king of the Zulu nation and the processes followed by President Cyril Ramaphosa to recognise amaZulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini are set to be ventilated before the Supreme Court of Appeal.
This comes as the Gauteng High Court, Pretoria, on Thursday granted Ramaphosa leave to appeal the court’s judgment which had found that the president’s recognition of Misuzulu was invalid.
The matter the court was dealing with was an application brought by Prince Mbonisi Bekithemba KaBhekuzulu and others and Prince Simakade KaZwelithini Zulu, who had sought to overturn the president’s certification of Misuzulu as the Zulu king.
In addition to granting leave to appeal, the court also granted cross appeals brought by Prince Mbonisi and Prince Simakade.
In his ruling last December, Judge Norman Davis had found that Ramaphosa had not followed the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act 3 of 2019 (the Leadership Act).
He ordered that Ramaphosa appoint an investigative committee as contemplated in the act to conduct an investigation and to provide a report in respect of allegations that the identification of Misuzulu was not done in terms of customary laws and customs.
The judge said his ruling was not about who should be king of the Zulu nation as the identification of the king had already been decided in the matter that came before KwaZulu-Natal High Court Judge Isaac Madondo who had ruled that Misuzulu was the rightful heir to the throne.
In his judgment on the leave to appeal and cross appeal applications, Judge Davis said the issue of whether the identification had already been decided was raised in the cross appeals by Prince Mbonisi and Prince Simakade.
He said it was argued that the court should have set aside the identification decision and remitted it back to the amaZulu royal family.
On behalf of Ramaphosa, the judge said it was argued that the Judge Madondo ruling had already found that there were no grounds satisfying the jurisdictional requirements of the Leadership Act and therefore the president was correct to go ahead with the recognition process.
For King Misuzulu it was said that Judge Madondo had already determined the dispute relating to the president's recognition decision.
Judge Davis said there was “compelling reasons” to grant the applications given “the enormity of importance of finality regarding the issue of succession to the amaZulu throne.”
The Mercury