Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, king of the AbuThemba clan of South Africa, where the late icon Nelson Mandela hailed from- has commenced a twelve year jail term for arson, assault, and kidnapping.
The sentence stems from a 2009 conviction, which the 51 year old has been fighting for the past six years. Close to midnight on Wednesday, he turned himself in to police after exhausting all the legal processes available to him.
According to the BBC, “King 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.”
The King had maintained his innocence, claiming the subjects were disciplined under customary law, which was his right. Somehow, the court did not see it his way.
The Supreme Court, which hammered the final nail into his coffin, argued in its October verdict that;
“His behaviour was all the more deplorable because the victims of his reign of terror were the vulnerable rural poor, who were dependent upon him. Our constitution does not countenance such behaviour.
“We are a constitutional democracy in which everyone is accountable and where the most vulnerable are entitled to protection.”
Dalindyebo has headed the Thembu clan since 1989, when he took over from his father. The late Nelson Mandela hailed from the clan, and was a direct relative of the jailed king.

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