Durban – King Misuzulu’s Royal Agent, Prince Africa Zulu has urged Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube and her director-general (DG) Dr Nonhlanhla Mkhize to work as a unit following the non-payment of the king’s legal fees.
The prince was reacting to the Daily News exposé of the premier’s office bungle to pay the king’s legal fees which has shot up to R8 million.
However Dube-Ncube distanced herself from the bungle, saying she was not involved in the processing of payments as that was the administrative function of the DG as an accounting officer.
The prince said the office of the premier was fully responsible for the affairs of His Majesty so Dube-Ncube should see to it that her office functions as a unit and could not distance herself from the mistake of her DG who is tasked to perform as an accounting officer.
Prince said the bungle reflected poor support of the court decision and the Presidency to recognise the king.
The prince said the bungle was tantamount to not recognising the king by the provincial government regardless of what happened at Moses Mabhida, adding the government was using the king for public relations purposes.
“It is saddening to see the king talking so positively about his good relationship with the government yet in practise things look otherwise on the side of the government in this province. One would think that there were lessons learnt from the last local elections when the former premier took a similar stance of refusing to give the king the support he needed during his journey of assuming the throne.”
“His Majesty’s legal team should not be stressed with issues of payments rather should be given all support to allow it to win at courts.
“Our president is still in our courts defending his decision to install our Zulu King and we expect nothing less from the province which is tasked with managing the affairs of His Majesty so the premier and her team should stop making excuses regarding the king’s legal matter and do the right thing.
“If this continues the royal family must meet and begin to review it’s relationship with the provincial government,” said Prince.
Furthermore, the Prince said if the DG has no capacity to perform her task, the ruling party must deal with that incompetence without fear or favour.
The premier’s spokesperson, Gugu Sisilana, said: “The premier is not involved in the processing of payments as this is an administrative function. Any matter about payments of any nature will be addressed by the accounting officer with the parties concerned as per the standard operating procedure.”
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