A prison-based human rights group which fights for the release of prisoners, does not want AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo pardoned.
In a bizarre turn of events, Miles Budu’s SA Prisoners Organisation for Human Rights said in a statement that if President Cyril Ramaphosa releases the king, then every other prisoner behind bars should also be freed.
Last week, justice minister Michael Masutha recommended that Ramaphosa pardon the jailed king.
A group of Eastern Cape monarchs last week gave Ramaphosa until Easter Monday to release Dalindyebo or they would tell their subjects not to vote for the ANC.
Budu said Contralesa, which has campaigned for the king’s release, should be reminded this was “South Africa, and not the glorified Bantustan they envisaged”.
“The threat directly to the president of the country to release AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, in six days or forfeit votes, is tantamount to treason, if not high treason.”
Budu said: “When the president pardons the AbaThembu king, he must [not ] dare forget other sentenced prisoners because what is good for the goose, must be good for the gander.”
He said the king was “not a political prisoner”.
The phones of Contralesa general secretary Zolani Mkiva, Eastern Cape House of Traditional Leaders chair Chief Mwelo Nonkonyane and presidential spokesperson Khusela Diko rang unanswered on Monday...