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King
Dalindyebo waged a reign of terror against some of his subjects Reuters
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A convicted king in South
Africa should be given clemency by President Jacob Zuma or preferential
treatment in prison, an influential traditional leaders body has said, the
local News24 site reports. King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo - a monarch of Nelson
Mandela's Thembu ethnic group - is due to report to police on Wednesday to
start a 12-year jail sentence after a court convicted him of kidnapping,
assault and arson.
News24 report continues:
The
Congress of Traditional Leaders of SA (Contralesa) would meet today to finalize
a petition asking Mr Zuma to give the king clemency, or his own prison
cell, said Chief Mwelo Nonkonyane, the organization's chairman in Eastern
Cape province, News24 reports.
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Nelson
Mandela, who grew up in the Thembu royal household, died two years ago aged 95
AFP
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"The
fact is that he is the king - you can't just mix him with other criminals and
his subjects," Chief Nonkonyane said.
King
Dalindyebo is the first monarch to be given a jail term since South Africa
became a democracy in 1994.
The
case was related to a dispute he had with some of his subjects more than two
decades ago.
"His
[the monarch's] 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," the Supreme
Court of Appeal said in a judgement in October.
"We are a
constitutional democracy in which everyone is accountable and where the most
vulnerable are entitled to protection," it added.
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