AbaThembu King expected to begin jail time
Controversial AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo is expected to report to Mthatha Maximum Correctional Centre today to begin his 12-year jail sentence.
Dalindyebo will also address his subjects in Bumbane Great Place before he hands himself over to the prison.
He was convicted on charges of culpable homicide, kidnapping, arson, assault and defeating the ends of justice.
On December 15 the Constitutional Court dismissed King Dalindyebo’s appeal against his 12-year jail sentence. In 2009, Dalindyebo was convicted and sentenced to 15 years in prison for culpable homicide, assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm, arson, and kidnapping. He was granted bail pending the outcome of his appeal to the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA).
On October 1, the SCA set aside Dalindyebo's culpable homicide conviction but confirmed the rest of the guilty verdicts and changed his sentence to an effective 12 years in prison. At the time, he was granted R6 000 bail pending his appeal to the Constitutional Court.
The charges all related to the mistreatment of Dalindyebo's subjects between 1995 and 1996 on a farm he owned near Mthatha in the Eastern Cape.
Dalindyebo set fire to the houses of three tenants to evict them because he believed they had breached tribal rules. He also publicly assaulted three young men brutally for allegedly committing crimes.
A fourth man who was suspected of having been party to the alleged crimes was killed by members of the community and the prosecution contended this was on Dalindyebo’s instructions, but the SCA was ultimately not convinced that the king was guilty of culpable homicide.
(File photo: Gallo Images)