Taxpayers still paying jailed king’s salary

AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo. File picture: Sumaya Hisham/Reuters

AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo. File picture: Sumaya Hisham/Reuters

Published Feb 15, 2016

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Johannesburg - Today is payday for a lot of public servants, including one sitting in jail.

Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo gets his second monthly pay cheque from the government since he went to jail on December 30, to start his 12-year sentence for arson, kidnapping and defeating the ends of justice.

The remuneration of traditional leaders is set nationally, and a king is paid R1 137 922 a year, or R94 826 a month.

Read: Modern law in conflict with customary law

But although he retains his kingship of the AbaThembu, it may be his last state salarypayment.

“King Dalindyebo will receive his salary on February 15, 2016,” said Mamnkeli Ngam, spokesman for the Eastern Cape Department of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, which pays him.

“The department has written to the king advising him of its intentions to terminate his salary. This was done in the interest of a fair process before the decision is implemented. We will await his feedback within a period of seven days.”

Read: Contralesa seeks pardon for jailed king

The department did not respond to queries on when officials wrote to Dalindyebo or when that deadline falls due.

Last month, The Star reported that Dalindyebo had been paid his January salary.

He was convicted in 2009 of crimes committed in 1995 and 1996, but remained out on bail until an appeal was finally filed and processed last year. This resulted in a 12-year-sentence, and the Constitutional Court rejected his appeal.

The Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA has petitioned the president for a pardon for him.

Read: The jailing of a king

Dalindyebo has managed to hold on to his kingship despite his criminal record. A king is legally dethroned when the president signs off on the request.

The AbaThembu royal family formally asked the president to remove Dalindyebo in 2012 because of his criminal conviction and behaviour, but President Jacob Zuma has not done so.

The Presidency did not respond to The Star’s request for an explanation on Dalindyebo’s status or the justification for paying him in the light of Zuma’s renewed promise in the State of the Nation address on Thursday to cut wasteful spending.

Last year, a chief was formally removed from office in KwaZulu-Natal. Goodman Busani Khanyile was the inkosi of eKukhanyeni in the Nkandla district.

In 2012, Khanyile was convicted on two counts of murder and sentenced to two terms of life imprisonment. He lost an appeal last year.

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Senzo Mchunu signed the removal from office in November, with effect from October 16; the order was gazetted last month.

Khanyile’s removal was done in terms of the KZN Traditional Leadership and Governance Act.

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