A cultural group, Umthondo Wesizwe, says it has engaged with all five claimants to the Ndebele throne, seeking to persuade them to agree on a collective process to determine the spiritually anointed heir.
The revival of the Ndebele Kingship has fragmented the Khumalo clan, with five individuals claiming to be the rightful heirs.
Two of them have been crowned in private ceremonies after the government blocked their public coronations in Bulawayo.
The publicly known claimants to the throne are Bulelani Khumalo, based in South Africa, who was privately crowned in 2018.
Stanely Raphael Tshuma Khumalo from the Hlangabeza house, was also crowned at a private venue in Bulawayo.
Peter Zwide Khumalo and Mcijwana Khumalo are also aiming for the throne.
In an interview, Umthondo Wesizwe chairman Ernest Langalitshoni Ncube said, as far as Ndebele society is concerned, there is still no officially crowned king.
He cited the divisions and secrecy surrounding the selection of the heir apparent within the Khumalo houses.
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He said his organisation realised these divisions would prolong the true revival of the kingship.
As a result, they embarked on a programme to visit all the royal houses and claimants to propose that they all undergo the Lot process (Inkatho), a spiritual practice to ascertain the rightful heir.
“Given the current confusion and division regarding the throne, we have come to realise that only conducting a Lot will resolve the impasse and give us the rightful and spiritually anointed King,” Ncube said.
“In this programme, we have visited all the claimants to the throne and asked them to consider coming together with all other Khumalos to conduct the Lot.
“We went to Peter Zwide, and he said the Lot is magic, so he cannot be involved.
“Bulelani’s representative, Bruce, also told us that they already have the king, and if we want to do the Lot, we can do it, but they are out of it.”
Ncube said Stanely Raphael, the Nkulumane house represented by Mpikelelo, and the Albert house represented by Ntando and his aunt agreed to the idea of the Lot.
“Stanely Raphael agreed without any qualms, and since he claimed to have been told by Jesus that he is a king, we said this is a traditional throne, and we would see if the Lot would also confirm him as the rightful heir,” Ncube said.
“When we visited all these claimants, we asked all of them to unite and come up with one solution to the kingship.
“We are asking all those who have since been declared crowned to reverse that, because as far as we are concerned, there is no Ndebele king unless this is confirmed by the Lot process.”
Ncube said his organisation was formed last year after realising that Mzilikazi’s people no longer have any traditional leadership, and their vision was to unite the Mthwakazi people.
He said the idea emerged after seeing numerous individuals from the Khumalo clan presenting their own heirs.
Ncube stated that for the kingship to be properly revived, the entire clan needs to come together and agree on one heir.
He said they met with the Khumalos on December 27, 2024, to ask why so many heirs are being presented.
Currently, they are seeking to unite the Khumalos to first persuade the government, through various structures, to include a kingship clause in the constitution.
Following that, the Lot process would be conducted to identify the heir apparent.
He said the effort to engage the government on the kingship issue was necessary because the government has rejected its revival on the grounds that the constitution does not provide for a monarch.
“We proposed that it has now been more than 120 years without a king, and we do not know who the rightful heir could be. The Lot is the one that will resolve our issues,” Ncube said.
“We asked ourselves if all those who are being presented as heirs are anointed, but we agreed that it is possible none of them are anointed, and they are being lined up simply because they were born in the lineage.
“So, the Lot will spiritually give us the correct heir.”
He said all of this would only be possible once the country’s constitution includes a clause on kingship.
