Two Khoisan leadership formations claim they do not recognise the upcoming elections, but a self-proclaimed king of a splinter group has taken this a step further by applying for a high court order to halt the May elections.
Calvin Cornelius III, who claims to be the king of the Sovereign State of Good Hope which encompasses a large swathe of the Eastern Cape, has applied for a cease-and-desist order against President Cyril Ramaphosa and the government in a court application at the Western Cape high court.
He claims to have hundreds of thousands of Khoisan followers.
At the centre of Cornelius’ application is the claim that his Western Cape land stretches up to the Fish River in the Eastern Cape and as far as the Northern Cape.
However, First Indigenous Nation of South Africa’s (Finsa) Greg Fick questioned Cornelius’ legitimacy.
Fick claims that they also won’t recognise the upcoming polls as every election from 1994 has sidelined the Khoisan and has been “fraudulent”.
“[Finsa] is not aware of any Cornelius – I, II or III. We do not accept his recognition of himself. He appointed himself without the peoples and started his own state without our concern. We distance ourselves from him. As far as we’re concerned, there is no such king as Cornelius III.” Cornelius filed the notice of motion in the high court on Monday.
“Somebody isn’t taking us seriously. We’ve been fighting this for 20 years, but because we’re invisible people in the land of our ancestors, that’s why nobody takes note of us,” Cornelius said.
He added that he and his people expected this court case to turn things around. The application, seen by the Dispatch, seeks an urgent court order against the two respondents “that no election be held in the Sovereign State of Good Hope, which consists of the Western Cape, Northern Cape and part of the Eastern Cape till as far as the Fish River”. Cornelius is calling for an immediate secession in the motion, seen by the Daily Dispatch. He added that the information carried on the “sovereignty’s” website reflects the basis of the application.
Cornelius’ family tree as drawn up on the Sovereign State of Good Hope’s website claims that he’s a 15th generation king of the “Kai Khaun dynasty”.
His pedigree also details the timelines of his forebears who were the reigning kings from 1695.
Cornelius’s spokesperson Gordon Holder claims the reason his king’s story isn’t recognised is because of a media blackout.
Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa (Contralesa) and Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders chair Nkosi Mwelo Nonkonyane said the congress was not aware of the court case, but would follow its proceedings closely.
“It hasn’t been brought to our attention, but it appears to be a publicity stunt. Nobody can stop the elections. The claim of land was concluded in 1998. This has nothing to do with elections, but we think this is unfortunate. We’ve met Khoisan leadership and we agreed to discuss how the structure of the Khoi-Sans are and how we can work closely together.”..