The King Ngangelizwe Royal Family will meet next Sunday to plot a way forward following the judgment handed down on Thursday to the former king of AbaThembu‚ Zwelibanzi Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo.

According to a statement‚ the Royal Family of the Kingdom of AbaThembu “congratulates the justice system for putting justice first‚ even on high-profile cases”

The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) in Bloemfontein on Thursday handed Dalindyebo a 12-year sentence.

 He had been convicted in the Mthatha High Court of crimes including arson‚ assault with intent to cause grievous bodily harm‚ culpable homicide and defeating the ends of justice in 2010‚ and sentenced to an effective 15 years in prison.

He appealed the case to the SCA hoping to escape jail in its entirety. The sentence was instead replaced with one of 12 years.

The royal family‚ however‚ lamented that “this case had taken too long to come to finality”‚ but thanks the office of the Public Protector for “accepting the complaints of the royal family regarding the delays regarding the initiation of the process in Mthatha to connect with SCA”.

“This case had a direct impact on the members of the royal family and the victims whom some of them were still subjected to the oppression by the former king‚” the statement said.

“We had undertaken a very extensive exercise over the past few years to evaluate the full range of implications on the custom of the kindom.

“Those considerations led to a decision to withdraw the tribal spear from him due to among other things‚ his shaking fitness.

“We want to assure AbaThembu tribe that this is the beginning of their emancipation. The royal family is fully aware that most of them had been inactive members in their own space due to conditions created over the past few years.

“We appeal to AbaThembu tribe to calm down‚ reboot their confidence and allow the royal family to discuss its custom internally.”