Another ousted traditional leader has publicly defied his dethronement and claims that he is still the chief of Muzuzungwaneni-Khalilale in Mbahela village, near Dzimauli.

"Over my dead body will I ever vacate this position because I am the rightful candidate for the throne. They can say what they want but I still maintain that I am the chief. I have the support of my subjects and no one can separate me from them. What they are doing is matambavhana (child’s play) and they have started a war that they will never win," said Chief Murengisazwothe Mamatsharaga.

Mbahela village senior traditional leader Khosi Nyelisani Mamatsharaga told scores of people who attended the dethroning ceremony at the local soccer ground on Saturday that he has removed Murengisazwothe and replaced him with Headman Takalani Liphadzi. A bull was slaughtered for the function and a high-powered delegation from the Tshivhase Dynasty (Mukumbani) was there to witness the occasion. The dethronement was caused by bad blood between the two traditional leaders and Nyelisani said the only solution was to remove Murengisazwothe from the throne.

"I am the one who installed Murengisazwothe in 2002 and I am now stripping him of his duties, even in his absence. I have the powers to install and dethrone, since Murengisazwothe was no longer submissive and he wanted to establish his own territory in my land. I have now relegated him to the position of Khotsimunene. I don’t have time to play and if he wants to challenge his dethronement, I will deal with him accordingly. Those people who still follow him must know that they are lost because he is now an ordinary person in this village. He keeps on telling people lies that he was installed by Thovhele Kennedy Tshivhase, which is not true. Thovhele was there to witness the occasion as I was installing him. There is no turning back now because the man has destroyed my governance. When I installed him, I thought he would help me to develop this village, but he has now grown bigger than his boots," fumed Khosi Nyelisani.

Nyelisani added: "I have called him several times to come and settle the matter, but he never turned up. The last time he turned up was when he caused havoc by destroying community forms and hitting our secretary with them. He is also challenging my title and wanted to dethrone me."

When Nyelisani was busy with the dethroning ceremony, Chief Murangisazwothe was at the same time celebrating with a huge number of his subjects at his palace. "Look, my subjects never went to that ceremony because they still love me. They will never impose a new leader on these people because they will never succeed. They even called a contingent of the police to their function because they know that what they are doing is wrong."

Murengisazwothe said the senior traditional leader is jealous of him because he has brought development to the village. "I am the one who brought electricity here and improved the road conditions. He is threatened because I am getting huge support from the villagers and he thinks I will take over his title. I will never do that because he is my senior." He says was installed by Thovhele Tshivhase and nobody in this world has the powers to dethrone him, except Thovhele himself.

Murengisazwothe said Khosi Nyelisani always avoided him when he wanted to settle disputes. "He always gives excuses and that is why he is preaching false gospel against me. I can’t believe that he could do this to me because I fought hard for him to retain his throne which was taken away by mavhanga. I spent R24 000 in legal costs just to have him installed, but today he is treating me like dirt. He wants to rule with an iron fist and he does not want challenges. Another problem is that he took my two goats and promised to return them at a later stage but he became aggressive when I demanded them back. Look, he is making himself a laughing stock by claiming that he is replacing me with a commoner. Our ancestors will be angry because they regard this as a taboo. He is fighting a losing battle and this will backfire on him. I have royal blood in my veins and no one will stop me from ruling my people."