BY SILAS NKALA ONE of the three claimants to the Ndebele kingship Stanley Raphael Khumalo has filed a High Court application suing President Emmerson Mnangagwa and the United Kingdom for dissolving the kingship.
The application was made through Khumalo’s lawyers from Mathonsi Ncube Chambers.
King Mzilikazi Royal Trust is the applicant, while Mnangagwa; Local Government and Public Works minister July Moyo; Queen Elizabeth and the government of England were cited as respondents.
“This is an application for a declaratory order and consequential relief seeking that verdict on the Judicial Committee of Privy Council on July 19, 1918 which ruled that the Ndebele sovereignty had been broken up and replaced by a new better system as defined by the Matabeleland Order in Council of 1894 be declared null and void, or effect on the ground that it is a violation of our constitutional rights to political rights, culture and fair regional representation,” read the application.
“On July 8, 2019, we registered the King Mzilikazi Royal Trust under protocol number 335/2019. The aims of the trust were to hold in trust, oversee, sustain and preserve the Mthwakazi national hood and hold in Trust the Royal Monarch Institution with the traditional structures, land resources, culture and language of the Ndebele State as at November 1893.”
Khumalo said the objective of the application was to re-establish and resuscitate the Mthwakazi kingdom and to ensure that royal commemorations such as Inxwala, Reed Dance and Isikhumbuzo Senkosi Umzilikazi, among others, are observed.
“I submit that Matabeleland was an independent kingdom until its conquest by the British South Africa Company (BSA Co) of November 1893 on behalf of the British crown under the 3rd respondent (Queen Elizabeth)’s rulership,” Khumalo submitted.
“Further the British crown did grant the Royal Charter of incorporation to the BSA Co on October 29, 1889 and October 29 the same year. Further after the conquest of the kingdom of Matabeleland on November 4, 1893, the 3rd respondent, government, legalised the contraband deal of BSA Co known as the Victoria Agreement of August 14, 1893 in which the perpetrators connived to overthrow a sovereign king by invading his kingdom and displacing all our indigenous people, and looting half a million of royal heads of cattle and treasure once Matabeleland was conquered.”
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He said Queen Elizabeth legalised the criminal BSA Co contract through the promulgation of Matabeleland Order on July 18, 1894, resulting in BSA Co ruling Matabeleland by conquest.
“White supremacy rule was replaced by black majority rule in 1980. In 2013, a new Constitution of Zimbabwe was enacted and people’s rights are now protected under it.”
All the respondents are yet to file their opposition papers.
The Ndebele throne is, however, currently mired in a protracted tussle between three claimants, Stanley, Bulelani Collins Lobengula Khumalo and Peter Zwide Khumalo.
Follow Silas on Twitter @silasnkala
