misuzulu and buthelezi ZULU ROYAL FAMILY

AmaZulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini and Traditional Prime Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi. Image:Twitter @Liezl_vdMerwe

‘His Majesty is making difficult for me to continue to serve’-Buthelezi

Rift between King Misuzulu and Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi grows as they come as loggerheads over the leadership of Ingonyama Trust

misuzulu and buthelezi ZULU ROYAL FAMILY

AmaZulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini and Traditional Prime Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi. Image:Twitter @Liezl_vdMerwe

AmaZulu traditional Prime Minister Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi has expressed his difficulty in continuing to serve under King Misuzulu kaZwelithini. Buthelezi was speaking in his address to Amakhosi in an Imbizo in Empangeni to discuss matters regarding Ingongonyama Trust.

The Prime Minister says the root cause of the problems is King Misuzulu’s failure to listen to advice regarding the leadership of the trust. Inkosi Thanduyise Mzimela was elected as chairperson of the Ingonyama Trust Board-against Buthelezi’s advice and will.

ALSO READ: Ingonyama Trust loses bid to reverse ruling on its ‘unlawful’ leases

The trust holds and administers over three million hectares of land in KwaZulu-Natal.

BUTHELEZI AT HIS WITS END

“Having experienced so much and having fought for so long to protect our land and our Kingdom, I am bewildered by the prospect of the Ingonyama Trust being made vulnerable under our nation’s King. I find it very difficult to serve under these circumstances.”

“I am determined to not to abandon my King and am committed to serve his Majesty with the same dedication and self-sacrifice with which I serve his late father and grandfather. But his majesty is making it difficult for me to continue to serve.”

ALSO READ: Buthelezi remains Prime Minister despite fallout with the King

“I fear that we may have reached a point where I must explain to the nation why I am compelled to step aside as Prime Minister. It is not my wish to step away from my King, but if the King refuses to hear my plea for the Ingonyama Trust, I cannot continue to serve.”

ANC ALLEGED STANCE ON TRIBAL LAND

Buthelezi has also revealed that the prior to the Kings Meeting with Amakhosi earlier this month, King Misuzulu had met with the ANC. Buthelezi implored the importance of the King receiving the correct advice and warned that the ANC has made it clear over the years that all the land under Ingonyama Trust should be taken away.

ALSO READ: IFP doesn’t believe ANC on Ingonyama Trust land sentiments

In May 2018, then Kgalema Motlanthe attacked Ingonyama Trust and called Amakhosi ‘village tin-pot dictators’. Buthelezi says that days after Motlanthe’s utterances, former Deputy President David Mabuza did not dispute nor apologise on behalf of Motlanthe but however confirmed an existence of a draft bill to remove land which is under the control of traditional leaders.

“A Presidential Advisory Panel on Land Reform and Agriculture declared in its report that the Ingonyama Trust Act is a clear violation of the Constitution.”

Buthelezi says the Panels’ recommendations were that, “Government should immediately assume responsibility and custodianship of the Trust land and administer it on behalf of its citizens.”

ALSO READ: ANC weighs in on plans to seize land under Ingonyama Trust

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