Dozens of community members from western Thembu land in the Eastern Cape have marched to the office of the Premier Noxolo Kiviet to hand over a petition demanding to be placed under the controversial AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo.

The Western Thembu Kingdom was dissolved by the Nhlapho Commission.

They also want all chiefs that were sworn in without Dalindyebo’s approval to be removed.

“We have waited patiently after the Nhlapho Commission that our plight will be addressed immediately, but to our dismay the process is prolonged or ignored continuously which make us suspicious that there is a strategic influence on those traditional leaders who benefited in the apartheid era and continued to be in the centre stage in post-apartheid,” says Unathi Mlindazwe.

Mlindazwe says that they have decided to march so that their pains and sorrows can be heard by those in authority. The people who attended the march came as far as Queenstown, Cofimvaba, Lady Frere, Hewu and Cala.

“We demand that our king to be given the authority to serve his people of western Thembu land with immediate effect,” Mlindazwe added.

Deputy Director-General in the Department of Traditional Affairs Sidumo Mathetha accepted the memorandum and promised to hand it to the relevant people.
Source: http://www.sabc.co.za