SIYABONGA SITHOLE
The bid to interdict new Zulu King Misuzulu KaZwelithini from entering the kraal has been struck off the roll for lack of urgency by the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
The court ruling comes after Princess Ntombizosuthu and Princess Ntandoyenkosi had applied to the court to halt the sacred ceremony on an urgent basis.
Judge Thomas Ncube said the case was not urgent enough to be considered on that merit.
Speaking to the SABC, legal expert Mpumelelo Zikalala said the applicants will have to go back to the drawing board if they still wanted to proceed with the matter, with the right kind of arguments as the matter was dismissed as it did not meet the urgent criteria.
"What they need to do is to go back to the drawing board if they still want to challenge the matter. They need to use the relevant law and court procedures for their application to be successful," Zikalala said.
King Misuzulu's pre-coronation ceremony, which includes the entering the kraal ceremony this weekend, resumed amid a myriad of court cases and an attempted court interdict which had sought to stop the ceremony at Khangelamankengane from happening in Nongoma in KwaZulu-Natal.
The event has also seen visitors from as far as Gauteng and Cape Town descend on Nongoma in a bid to witness this sacred ceremony which had members of the royal family divided over who is the rightful heir to the throne.
Reporting from Nongoma, Independent Media reporter Sihle Mavuso reported that Princess Ntombizosuthu and Princess Ntondoyenkosi had filed a new court application against the sacred kraal entering ceremony, pending the SCA court case. In the new court case, the two princess are requesting President Cyril Ramaphosa to not grant King Misuzulu recognition as King of the Zulu nation pending the SCA court case.
"Pending the final determination of the appeal at the SCA under case number:443/2022, the 5th respondent (President Cyril Ramaphosa) or his representative or nominee he interdicted and restrained from issuing or handing over a certificate recognising the First Respondent (King Misuzulu) as Isilo of the Zulu Nation as envisaged in Section 8(3)(b)of the Traditional and Khoisan Leadership Act 3 of 2019.
"Pending the final determination of the appeal at the Supreme Court of Appeal under case 443/2022, the first and third respondents (the royal family), be and are hereby interdicted and restrained from coordinating, convening, holding events which are associated and connected with the coronation of the first respondent as Isilo of the Zulu Nation," the two applicants said in their court papers.
The second court application comes after the failed attempt on Friday where both parties had applied to have the ceremony interdicted by the court.
In another separate court case, the Supreme Court of Appeal allowed Queen Sibongile Dlamini Zulu to appeal against the Pietermaritzburg High Court judgment, which dismissed her application to have 50% of the late King Goodwill Zwelithini's estate set aside.
The Star