King Misuzulu blames a certain political party of hatching a plot to close Ithala Bank. Picture: Sibonelo Ngcobo / Independent Newspapers
King Misuzulu kaZwelithini has accused a certain political party of being behind a plot to destroy Ithala Bank.
Addressing more than 1 000 subjects that attended an imbizo at Emashobeni Royal Palace in Pongola, north east of KwaZulu-Natal yesterday, the king said he knew the people that were behind Ithala’s demise, including a political party.
However, the king stopped short of naming it, promising to reveal all the names of the people in the near future.
“I am fed up with this and will name the people behind the campaign to destroy Ithala. There is a political party that is involved but this gathering is the beginning of many to come so, I will reveal all the people that are involved in destroying Ithala,” said the king.
Angered by the snubbing of imbizo by Ithala Bank board chairperson Dr Thulani Vilakazi, the king said his absence made him think he was also working with the people that are bent on destroying the bank.
The king said Vilakazi undermined his authority and listened to other people. Vilakazi was on the programme to present problems facing Ithala.
His absence was also condemned by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi, who during his presentation questioned Vilakazi’s absence.
As part of resolutions to save Ithala, the imbizo resolved that the bank’s licence must be reinstated immediately. The king said if there was money that was needed to reinstate the licence, he would ask his subjects to contribute.
The bank is in a legal battle with the South African Reserve Bank’s Prudential Authority, which has filed papers in the Pietermaritzburg High Court for its provisional liquidation.
The Authority has cited non-compliance as the reasons for its action, however, the king and other stakeholders said there was a third hand.
On the Ingonyama Trust, the king named his uncle, Prince Mbonisi Zulu, as one of the people behind the destruction of the Ingonyama Trust.
Zulu was one of the princes that opposed King Misuzulu from ascending to the throne and even went to court to challenge the recognition and issuing of the kingship certificate to him. The matter is still in court after President Cyril Ramaphosa appealed against the Pretoria High Court decision which set aside the king’s recognition, citing the procedural flaws.
Prince Zulu also filed papers in Pietermaritzburg High Court asking to bar King Misuzulu from presiding over the Ingonyama Trust until the case against his appointment as the king was finalised, however, the court dismissed his application.
willem.phungula@inl.co.za