Convicted South African king begins 12-year-jail sentence
King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo of Nelson Mandela’s Thembu clan has reported to prison to commence a 12-year prison sentence for kidnapping, assault and arson.
King Dalindyebo became the first monarch to be jailed in South Africa since 1994 after he was found culpable in a dispute he had with some of his subjects about two decades ago.
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He ascended to the throne in 1989, and has about 700,000 subjects.
Dalindyebo was accused of kidnapping a woman and her six children, setting their home on fire and beating up four youths, one of whom died, because one of their relatives had failed to present himself before the king’s traditional court.
He handed himself to prison authorities in the eastern city of Mthatha in compliance with a court order after a judge refused to extend his bail on Wednesday, the justice ministry said in a statement..
