Durban - The first wife of the late King Goodwill Zwelithini, Queen Sibongile Dlamini-Zulu, has won the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) battle to appeal the Pietermaritzburg High Court judgment, which dismissed her application to have 50% of the estate of the Zulu King set aside for her.
The SCA ruling came just a day before King Misuzulu kaZwelithini performs the ritual of entering the kraal at KwaKhangalemankengane palace, the last rite before he is coronated.
It was not immediately clear whether, after this last-minute legal victory, Queen Sibongile, her two daughters and Prince Mbonisi Zulu will now try to urgently interdict the ritual set for Saturday and the coronation scheduled for September 24 in Durban.
In March this year, Judge Isaac Madondo dismissed the Queen’s application on the basis that it was not clear from the application which part of the estate as the royal estate was divided into five categories.
He added that the issue of the estate could only be resolved by the executor of the estate or relevant structure, like the master of the high court and not his court.
The Queen had approached the court on the basis that the late King married her in community of property and in civil rites marriage. As such, she had to get half of his estate, and the other five wives and children share the rest.
She said the King was not supposed to marry other wives after her since civil rites and marriages barred him.
In his ruling, Madondo, who is also a customary law expert, said there was no dispute about Queen Sibongile's claim that she was married to the late king in civil rites.
Madondo also said the applicant, the Queen, also failed to ask the court to declare the other five customary marriages of the King unlawful. As such, the court could not rule on something that was not before it, and there was no dispute about that. Madondo said it was not clear from the application which part of the estate, as the royal estate was divided into five categories. He added that the issue of the estate could only be resolved by the executor of the estate or relevant structure like the master of the high court and not his court.
On the same day, Judge Madondo dismissed an application which was part of the broader case where they wanted to stop the coronation of King Misuzulu on the basis that the will of the late King gave rise to his ascendancy was forged.
He said even if the signature on the will is found to be forged and the will is set aside, it has no bearing on the succession as the Zulu King is not appointed through a will but through a custom, which in this case only favours King Misuzulu - not even Prince Simakade.
Instead, Madondo said since there is a dispute over the signature, there must be a separate court case to determine the authenticity of the signature and the validity of the will.
Equally, Madondo also ruled that Prince Mbonisi Zulu had no locus standi to even bring the application to the courts to stop the coronation of King Misuzulu.
All the losing parties went back to Madondo to ask him to grant them leave to appeal since they believed that he erred in his ruling and another court may rule differently. They were turned down, and they then directly petitioned the SCA in Bloemfontein.
On Friday, the SCA granted the leave to appeal, meaning that the higher court will now give them audience to argue their case through their lawyer, Nigel Redman.
“Condonation as applied for is granted. The applicant for condonation is to pay the cost of the application. Leave to appeal is granted to the Supreme Court of Appeal.
“The cost order of the court a quo in dismissing the leave to appeal is set aside, and the costs for the costs of the application for leave to appeal in this court and the court a quo are costs in the appeal.
“If the applicant does not proceed with the appeal, the applicant is to pay these costs,” the SCA ruled.
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