President Emmerson Mnangagwa has been drawn into the raging chieftaincy feud and attendant long-running saga within the prominent Khumalo clan in Lupane, Matabeleland North province.
The Khumalo were the rulers of the Ndebele State under King Lobengula destroyed by British colonial invaders – Pioneer Column from The Cape in South Africa which arrived in Zimbabwe in 1890 – during the 1893 Anglo-Ndebele War.
Lobengula was the son of Mzilikazi kaMashobane who hailed from Mkhuze, in northern present-day KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Veteran broadcaster Ezra Sibanda speaks to Donald Khumalo and his family members who have some links with Vice-President Constantino Chiwenga.
In 2022, Chiwenga, who is related to them somehow, paid funeral costs for them after the death of Chief Mabhikwa (Vusumuzi Khumalo).
He presided over the burial. Mnangagwa is cited as the fifth respondent in a High Court case in which 32 Khumalo family members are challenging the ascendency of Zanele Khumalo, who is married to a Ndlovu husband in Jotsholo, as newly-installed Regent Chief Mabhikwa.
In the court application, through their lawyers Dube, Mguni & Dube Legal Practitioners, the Khumalos say Zanele’s appointment is illegal and not in keeping with their cultural traditions, values and norms.
Minister of Local Government minister Daniel Garwe is cited as the First Respondent, National Council of Chiefs president Chief Mtshane Khumalo (second respondent), Matabeleland North provincial assembly of chiefs chairperson Chief Siansali (third), Zanele (fourth) and President Mnangagwa fifth.
Regent Chief Mabhikwa – Zanele – a married mother of two who succeeded her late brother Vusumuzi Khumalo – is expected to serve for nine years until Makhosemvelo Khumalo, Vusumuzi’s son, currently a minor, comes of age to take over.
There is a long-standing dispute in the family over chieftaincy, hence the current saga, dating back to 2009.
The Khumalos argue Zanele’s appointment is illegal as there is no position of the Regent Chief at law.
They also say there was no nullification or withdrawal of the first applicant John Khumalo as acting chief.
John Khumalo has been battling to become chief for years. He also fought Vusumuzi over the chieftaincy, arguing that he was not a legitimate chief since his father Nicholas was not the rightful Chief Mabhikwa.
The claimants say the heir was not supposed to come from Nicholas’ mother of the Mabhena clan. The elder Chief Mabhikwa’s first three wives were Mabhenas.
They say the heir was expected to come from the chief’s later wife, a Mkhwananzi, instead.
The elder died in 1983 and Nicholas took over until his death.
After that some family members tried to install Vusa Benjamin Khumalo, Nicholas’s son as chief in 2012.
The applicants in the current case are accusing the Chief Nkalakatha-led government delegation dealing with the succession matter, of being biased, having a conflict of interest and lacking proper knowledge of the Ndebele traditional Ndebele culture.
Legally, they say Zanele’s appointment violates the law.
In his founding affidavit, John Khumalo says the Traditional Leader’s Act and constitution which does not provide for any regent chief.
Further, they argue that the chieftaincy dispute dates back to December 2009 when the High Court outlined the lawful process for the appointment of a chief within the Mlonyeni Khumalo chieftaincy to take over the traditional Chief Mabhikwa role.
The fight is between families (houses in local parlance) within the Khumalo clan.
Interview: Ezra Tshisa Sibanda
