Senior AbaThembu royal family members have turned their back on their controversial King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo after he was arrested on Friday for allegedly going on a rampage attacking his son, Prince Azenathi.
The alleged attack happened in the early hours of Friday morning at Dalindyebo’s Bumbane Great Place Palace outside Mthatha, where he was later arrested.
Correctional Service spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said the Mthatha District Court released the king on a warning.
He will appear in court again on June 1.
Nxumalo said Correctional Services was working with the SAPS in ascertaining details of the incident “as the parolee was placed out into the system of community corrections with certain conditions that must be complied with.”
“A full report will thus be brought to the attention of the Correctional Supervision and Parole Board to consider the conduct of the parolee and adjudicate on the way forward.
“This shall also be largely determined by the court processes already underway,” said Nxumalo.
AbaThembu chairperson Vusi Mvelase said they will no longer fight for the king.
“We condemn what he (king) did at all costs, and this time around we are not going to fight for his release (if he is sent back to prison) because he had violated his parole conditions,” said Mvelase.
The king allegedly committed the crime while he was on parole after being released from East London prison where he had spent four years of his 12-year sentence.
Mvelase, who previously campaigned for the king’s release, said the attack was unfortunate because Prince Azenathi had for years fought for his father’s release.
“He led negotiations with the president (Cyril Ramaphosa) to get his father released,” said Mvelase.
According to Eastern Cape police spokesperson Brigadier Thembinkosi Kinana, Dalindyebo had been charged with malicious damage to property and assault.
Royal family member Chief Minenkulu Joyi said the family was disappointed because the incident happened while there was a campaign for him to get a presidential pardon so that he could return to his position.
“Right now we are in Mthatha Magistrate Court where he is appearing, and we are very disappointed,” said Joyi.
He said ever since the king was released from prison he had never set his foot at Bumbane, his main palace, which was currently occupied by his son, Prince Azenathi.
“When he went to attack the acting king, it was his first time setting foot in the palace,” he said.
He said that the royal family believe that the attack was connected to King Dalindyebo’s unhappiness with his oldest son acting in the position.
“He had initially appointed Azenathi to act (as he was preparing to start serving his sentence), but all of a sudden he changed his mind and appointed his wife Queen Nokwanda to take over the position.
“However, the royal family had already endorsed the first appointment,” said Joyi.
Joyi said Dalindyebo had arrived at the palace at about 3am armed with an axe, bush knife and “what looked like a spear”.
“He broke into the house and started throwing his son’s belongings, such as clothes and furniture, out of the house.
“People got injured as they were escaping from the house,” he said.
He said Azenathi’s wife Ongezwa was injured as she was trying to escape from her enraged father-in-law. She was taken to hospital.
He said the family would soon meet to discuss how the matter should be handled.
Another family member, Prince Zanothando Dalindyebo, told the SABC News that Prince Azenathi escaped through the top window of the double storey house and went into hiding.
The Independent Media reported early this year that when the king was released from prison, instead of returning to Bumbane Great Place, where a ceremony was going to be held to cleanse him of prison bad luck, he went to live with Queen Nokwanda at Enkululekweni Palace.
Prince Azenathi and family members were turned away at the gate.