King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo criticises President Ramaphosa over Israeli delegation visit
Defiant King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo has belittled President Cyril Ramaphosa and Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane to little boys whom he did not feel obliged to inform about the Israeli delegation visiting his AbaThembu nation.
The state has condemned the king for hosting the Israeli officials without informing government authorities.
This has led to Ariel Seidman, the Chargé d’Affaires of the Israeli Embassy, packing within 72 hours after being declared persona non grata.
He was stepping down from his traditional authority following criticism, including from the provincial government, for receiving Israeli Foreign Affairs Ministry senior official David Saranga in his Bumbane Great Place palace outside Mthatha.
During an interview with Newzroom Afrika news anchor Thabo Mdluli on January 30, he stated that there was no reason for him to ask for permission to receive the delegation.
He also took the Israeli dignitaries on a tour to Mthatha General Hospital and the local campus of Walter Sisulu University (WSU) without informing the provincial government.
“Certainly, I would like you to understand that as a monarch, I am the number one custodian.
“I don’t see any head of state or premier that is above a king, (and) to question or for me to be obliged to small boys like that, it would be out of logic and out of God’s order,” said the king.
According to King’s spokesperson, Ntando Dalindyebo, Saranga donated R180,000 to the soup kitchen run by king’s queen to feed residents who were left homeless by the floods that hit Mthatha in May last year.
He said he did not have to report that donation to the South African Revenue Service (SARS).
“How many people have been given donations here without being questioned?
“The Arab Emirate donated R35 million, and nobody questioned why, and what makes me sick is that that money has not been accounted for.
“Oscar Mabuyane knows where that money ended up, and we are facing a problem where we are dealing with kleptomaniac thieves from premier to president because the president also donated for the floods about a billion rand, and that money has not been accounted for, as Mabuyane and cronies have already misappropriated it,” he said
bongani.hans@inl.co.za