Dalindyebo asks Concourt to ‘restore apartheid’

Jailed AbaThembu king Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo has asked the Constitutional Court to allow traditional leaders to run their own sovereign territories in a last-ditch attempt to evade justice.

The disgraced king’s latest application – labelled “wacky” by one constitutional law expert – was filed as “urgent” on Friday.

Among other pleas, the royal, 52, wants Constitutional Court judges to develop customary law that will recognise him, the AbaThembu nation and its territory as sovereign and not subject to South African law. He wants his transgressions, for which he is serving a 12-year sentence, be treated under this law.

“The king expressly waivers his right to “recognition as a person” and expressly waivers the benefit of incarceration and expressly dissents to the subject-matter-jurisdiction by which the rulings were made,” said Dalindyebo’s self-proclaimed secretary Karl Lang in an affidavit.

“The king may have erred in his defence due to the fact that he neither understands legalese, nor the foreign procedures of the court of South Africa.

“The king’s freedoms and rights cannot be taken away without his consent.”

He added that Dalindyebo had been denied justice by being subject to laws that should not apply to him, adding that they would petition international tribunals if denied by the Concourt.

“Roman Dutch law was retributive and foreign as opposed to African indigenous justice, which addressed the rights of the victims,” he said.

Constitutional law expert Professor Warren Freedman of the University of KwaZulu- Natal said it was inconceivable the application could succeed.

“There are parts of it that are completely bizarre. From a legal perspective there are many, many strange, almost crazy, things said in those papers.”

In his own words, in a letter to President Jacob Zuma filed with the papers, Dalindyebo – a marijuana smoker – claims:

lHe, the AbaThembu people and territory are sovereign;

lHe never consented to his unlawful incarceration;

lStatutory law is the law of the sea and customary law is the un-enacted law of the land;

lAs a traditional leader, he should be treated differently to everybody before the law; and

lHe does not recognise the corporation registered as (the) Republic of South Africa nor its administrative and executive officers which function as a foreign jurisdiction.

Dalindyebo said since 1994 South Africa has not developed customary law or recognised its independent standing.

“The justices of the Constitutional Court of South Africa are hereby invited to stand by their solemn to ‘be faithful to the Republic of South Africa’ and to ‘uphold and protect the Constitution and the human rights entrenched in it’ as it in this case,” he said.

The letter was in response to Zuma’s letter to him asking him why his certificate of recognition as a King should not be withdrawn in light of his 2009 criminal conviction.

The conviction related to incidents between 1995 and 1996 at Tyhalarha village, where Dalindyebo torched three properties belonging to local men, kidnapped the wife and children of one, and severely assaulted two boys accused of rape. He gave instructions that a third boy be assaulted, and he later died of his injuries.

Freedman said what Dalindyebo was asking for was effectively a return of the apartheid homeland system that was abolished in favour of the new democracy.

“It is completely unlikely that the Constitutional Court will develop customary law in the way they want. They are clutching at straws. These are not realistic legal arguments.

“I see absolutely no hope of success in this,” he added.

Dalindyebo’s most recent failed bid at the Constitutional Court to have his conviction and sentence set aside was followed by the AbaThembu royal family petitioning Zuma to withdraw his recognition of Dalindyebo as king in January.

Daludumo Mtirara, spokesperson for the royal family, said the council had already removed him as king by custom, and was in the process of appointing an individual to act in his place until a permanent solution could be found.

He distanced the royal family from the new application.

“The royal family of Ngangelizwe and Dlomo have nothing to do with this Lang.

“There is nothing to do with this royal family that will be discussed in prison.

“The kingship of our nation is currently under the royal family in terms of custom, and we are in the process of an acting king,” he said.

Dalindyebo’s incarceration saw him lose his benefits, including his official vehicle, petrol card and salary of just over R1-million a year.

The government of South Africa, Minister of Justice, National Assembly Speaker Baleka Mbete and chairwoman of the National Council of Provinces Thandi Modise were listed as respondents in the matter.