‘Ndebele king coronation unconstitutional’

By Blessings Mashaya

Local Government minister July Moyo has said the coronation of Ndebele King Bulelani Lobengula Khumalo is illegal, as there is no provision for a king in Zimbabwe’s Constitution.

Speaking in the Senate last week, Moyo said only chiefs were recognised in the new Constitution.

This comes as High Court judge Justice Martin Makonese recently dismissed the urgent application by South Africa-based Bulelani Lobengula Khumalo, who wanted to be installed king, ruling that it was illegal to do so under the Zimbabwean Constitution.

“Together, we enacted a new Constitution. The chiefs were participants in that Constitution making process. In our Constitution, it is very clear that the traditional leaders as defined in the Constitution are in three parts only, the first one is a chief, in Shona ndi mambo, in Ndebele Induna but in our Constitution it is the chief. Then there is a headman and there is a village head. So, when people who wanted to have a king wrote to us, we advised that in our Constitution we have no provision for a King.

“Fortunately, for us as Zimbabweans, when South Africans were making their Constitution we participated in many ways and they put in their Constitution that they will have kings who are in their localities. We do not have that in Zimbabwe.

“So, our advice was that we cannot have a king when it is not provided for by law…That is what the Constitution says.” Daily News