By WARDA MEYER Staff Reporter
Convicted abaThembu king Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo has suspended his plans to declare independence and put more than 65 percent of South Africa under tribal rule, after receiving a recent letter from President Jacob Zuma.
In December, King Dalindyebo was sentenced in the Mthatha High Court to 15 years in jail for several crimes, including culpable homicide, kidnapping, arson and assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm.
He is out on bail while appealing.
The king's decision to withdraw from the South African government was made public about two weeks ago.
However, his lawyer Votani Majola said that after receiving the letter from Zuma, a series of meetings had been held within the tribe.
Yesterday morning the royal family issued an instruction not to file the notice to declare independence.
The contents of the president's letter have not been made public.
The abaThembu have vowed to declare their independence from South Africa unless King Dalindyebo's conviction is lifted.
They have also demanded that the government pay R900 million to the royal family for humiliation suffered during the trial and a further R80 billion to the abaThembu nation.
Majola said that in line with the pre-colonial boundaries of the tribe's land, the state of Thembuland would include all of the Western, Eastern and Northern Capes, KwaZulu-Natal, and parts of Gauteng and the Free State.
"One thing is sure - President Jacob Zuma will not be the president in the six provinces identified as abaThembu land, because the tribe will be independent from the country," he added.
Majola, who heads the Justice for King Dalindyebo Campaign, said the abaThembu believed that the trial was a political persecution to overthrow the king and to replace him with a puppet king.
The campaign claims that the abaThembu is South Africa's largest tribe with more than 10 million members.
Majola said the tribe would monitor developments and if the charges were not withdrawn, the compensation paid and a public apology issued by the president, "we will use the World Cup in every way possible to register our complaint".