King (queen) ship battle continues ...

The battle in the courts to determine who should be the real king or queen of the Vhavenda is gaining momentum, and today (8 April), amended papers will be filed in the Thohoyandou High Court. The parties ask the court to intervene and have the decision to make Toni Ramabulana the king of the Vhavenda declared invalid.

The first applicant is the 21-year-old Masindi Clementine Mphephu, only child of the late paramount chief of the Vhavenda, Tshimangadzo Mphephu (who ruled under the name Dimbanyika). It is argued that she should have been next in line for the kingship but  was overlooked because of gender discrimination.

The second applicant is Mbulaheni Charles Mphephu, eldest son of the late Patrick Mphephu. He argues that, should Masindi not be considered for the kingship position, he would be next in line. They dispute the recommendation made by the Royal Family in August 2010 that the rightful incumbent is Toni Mphephu Ramabulana.

During an interview last Saturday, Mbulaheni Mphephu (commonly known as Charles) emphasized that the fight for the kingship is not a personal one but rather to make sure that due processes are being followed and old traditions are honoured. He firmly believes that the young Masindi is the rightful heir to the crown and that the only reason she was not considered, is because she is a woman.

The battle became official in December last year when papers were served on seven respondents, which include Toni Ramabulana, President Jacob Zuma (who had announced that Toni would be the new king), as well as the national and provincial houses of traditional leaders. The applicants ask the court to firstly set aside the decision to appoint Toni Ramabulana as king and then to declare that the practice of only installing males as traditional leaders be declared unconstitutional.

The respondents have indicated that they will contest the case and now have to file their opposing affidavits. Because of the volumes of the documents involved, the parties asked for more time to prepare their answering affidavits. According to Mr Johann Hammann (Sr), attorney for the two applicants, they (the applicants) also requested certain documents and these only became available in the past month. One of the important documents is the letter from the Mphephu Ramabulana royal council in which they make a recommendation to the office of the president.

The meeting of the royal council held on 14 August 2010 is important for a variety of reasons. This meeting followed the announcement of the Nhlapo Commission that the kingship of the Vhavenda resides in the house of the Mphephu Ramabulana family. The Royal Family had to decide, based on certain criteria, who the incumbent should be. The recommendation to the president was that it must be Toni Ramabulana.

In the minutes of the meeting, reference is made to the manner in which a king is selected. “In the Mphephu Ramabulana family in particular, only males succeed to the throne,” the minutes read. The king is identified by the senior khadzi who, according to the meeting, was Vho-Makhadzi vho-Phophi Mphephu.

Mbulaheni disputes the procedures that were followed to identify the new king and also the authority of the people making the decisions. He argues that only a select group of people was invited to this meeting and it was not representative of the royal family. He claims they were never informed of the meeting and were excluded from the process.

Mbulaheni and Masindi believe that, because Toni Ramabulana was appointed as ndumi after the death of his half-brother Dimbanyika, he cannot be considered for the kingship position. In Mbulaheni’s affidavit, he explains that “In terms of a strict requirement of Vhavenda customary law, the ndumi to a king or queen can never be the next king. This is because the ndumi is one of the closest advisors to the king or queen. It is thus believed that a person in that position would be tempted to kill or displace the king or queen if there was any incentive of succession involved.”

The two applicants also argue that Toni Ramabulana does not come from the right dzekiso house. The dzekiso wife (or candle wife) is appointed according to certain customs and there may be more than one candle wife to make provision for cases where the first candle wife does not bear children. The late Ramaano Patrick Mphephu had eight wives and the three parties involved in the current court case were each born from different wives. Masindi Mphephu, the first candle wife, gave birth to Dimbanyika Mphephu (father of Masindi Clementine Mphephu).  Doris Mphephu, his fourth wife (but second candle wife) is the mother of Mbulaheni Charles Mphephu. Toni Ramabulana is the son of Matamela Mphephu, the second wife.

The legal arguments will, however, firstly focus on the constitutional issue of whether a woman may be ignored when deciding on an heir. Masindi and Mbulaheni’s legal team reckon there are plenty of examples in African history to make out a case for the inclusion of women. Apart from Modjadji, the queen of Balobedu, there was also the Tlokwa queen, Mantatisi. Queen Mantatisi (ca. 1781–1836) was one of the best-known, and most feared, female military and political leaders of the early 19th century.

News - Date: 05 April 2013

Anton van Zyl

Anton van Zyl has been with the Zoutpansberger and Limpopo Mirror since 1990. He graduated from the Rand Afrikaans University (now University of Johannesburg) and obtained a BA Communications degree. He is a founder member of the Association of Independent Publishers.

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