Is Mandla Mandela abusing his position? Even on what appears to be his deathbed, Nkosi Nelson Rholihlahla Mandela (Ah! Dalibhunga) continues to give leadership. He led the struggle for freedom until we achieved democracy in 1994. The defining feature of the democracy he led us into was the promotion of racial reconciliation. This was entrenched through the constitution and its Bill of Rights which ensured that the white man’s way of life and his inherited riches would be protected. On the other hand the lot of the historically disadvantaged would be attended to at a later stage. This much he himself said when he officially opened the National House of Traditional Leaders. He told the country’s royalty that it was not proper that the new dispensation dealt with the matter of the place of traditional leaders last, while the government was still perfecting the western norms to stabilise the land. It is common knowledge that whenever any of our African cultural practices is pitted against the Bill of Rights the former comes second. In the twilight of his life, Dalibhunga is giving South Africa the opportunity to take a hard look at its African cultural identity. The divisions within his offspring over the proper place for the reburial of the remains of his two sons and daughter are a matter of public knowledge. Nkosi Mandla Mandela (Ah! Zwelivelile) the heir-apparent to the Madiba dynasty, and *Mrs Makaziwe Amuah, umafungwashe (the senior daughter, the one by whom we swear), are the chief protagonists in the drama. Both of them are holding their respective positions by default by reason of the fact that Zwelivelile’s father and Makaziwe’s older sister (after whom she is named) passed away before they could take up their respective leadership positions. From what we see in the media, each believes they are senior to the other. Of course, the fact of the matter is that there can only be one leader in any institution and in this case the person whom the Dalibhunga house designated senior leader is Zwelivelile. This does not take away the fact that Mrs Amuah is entitled to deference, by virtue of her being sister to Zwelivelile’s father and older than him by age. Zwelivelile has to take major decisions affecting the family after consultation with her, much more so than he is obliged to the other family members. Do take note that it is after consultation and not in consultation with his aunt. In the event that there are serious disagreements between these two leaders, a forum of the elders of the Madiba clan is the place to which to appeal, failing which the Royal Court of King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo (Ah! Zwelibanzi) should be consulted. The latter is the supreme court of appeal of the Thembu nation. In these days of the constitutional order the Constitutional Court should be the next and final court of appeal. In other words there should have been no need for the Dalibhunga family to go to the Mthatha High Court without them first exhausting the Thembu forums of dispute resolution over the location of the graves. Also the royal court should, in a truly African state, be no less than any court other than the Constitutional Court. As can be expected when family quarrels play themselves out in public, the temptation is always there for the antagonists to start questioning each other’s legitimacy. Thus it is public knowledge that Zwelivelile was born out of wedlock. His father had subsequently fathered other sons with his wife. Zwelivelile would have, in terms of Thembu custom, been considered a child of his mother’s parents, but for the fact that the Mandela house took him under its wing and proceeded to subject him to Thembu rites of passage, from infancy to installation as traditional leader. He could not have been given the responsibility of being the traditional leader of the Mvezo Thembu if he had not been so integrated into his father’s house. One of Zwelivelile’s brother, Ndaba, has publicly stated that Zwelivelile was born out of wedlock. Zwelivelile tells me that his father provided lobolo for his mother and their marriage was duly registered. Now the question has been asked whether a son born out of wedlock can ever inherit the position of traditional leadership. Under normal circumstances he cannot. However, history does attest that in certain instances this does happen. Prince Mlawu, son Rharhabe, himself the right hand son of Phalo, the King of the Xhosa, died in battle apparently either before he got married or before fathering a son with his wife or wives. His uncle Ndlambe, who was otherwise the next in line to the throne, discovered that Mlawu had two sons: Ntimbo and Ngqika, born out of wedlock. Upon consulting King Khawuta, Ndlambe had Ngqika installed as the heir to Mlawu’s position as the senior traditional leader of the Rharhabe Xhosa. In Mpondoland King Mqikela, son of Faku, had no son with his Great Wife MaSarhili, daughter of King Sarhili of the Xhosa. MaSarhili discovered that Mqikela had a son from one of his mistresses. She proceeded to bring the son under her wing, adopted him as her own and named him Sigcawu, taking her own Xhosa brother’s name. The Mpondo kings of Qawukeni are the descendants of that Sigcawu. I have cited here two examples relating to kings who were born out of wedlock. Kings being the most senior traditional leaders in African communities and custodians of custom, it stands to reason that other traditional leaders, and even ordinary households, have taken in sons born out of wedlock and installed them as heirs. It is our understanding that Dalibhunga, fully cognisant of the status of Zwelivelile vis-à-vis that of the latter’s brothers from their father’s wife, decided to designate Zwelivelile as his heir in his father’s stead. Dalibhunga was fit and healthy when he made his choice, a choice that was endorsed by King Dalindyebo in person. It is our hope as traditional leaders that Africans will be galvanised into reclaiming their identity and become a people who are proud of their heritage. In that way the values defining ubuntu will force our government to work towards the redistribution of the land in an equitable manner. - Inkosi Holomisa is the traditional leader of the Hegebe clan of the Thembu and president of the Traditional Leaders of South Africa. * Makaziwe prefers to call herself Makaziwe Mandela
Posted on: Mon, 08 Jul 2013 07:27:54 +0000
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