The Sunday News
Tinomuda Chakanyuka, Senior Reporter
CLAIMANT to the Ndebele throne, Mr Stanley Raphael Khumalo took his treasonous antics a notch higher when he unveiled what he said was the flag for Mthwakazi Kingdom which would replace the national flag in parts of the country that fall under his “revived empire”.
The brown, yellow, white, black and purplish-blue flag, with a water mark image of Jesus Christ was unveiled yesterday at a rally disguised as a prayer meeting at the Large City Hall in Bulawayo. This comes after Mr Khumalo, wrote to President Mugabe demanding keys to the State House in Bulawayo, which he claimed was his official residence.
Mr Khumalo, who is on an ill-fated drive to revive the Mthwakazi Kingdom, said the flag would be hoisted in the Midlands Province, parts of Masvingo and the three Matabeleland provinces, areas he said all fall under his empire. Until recently, Mr Khumalo had been using Tshuma as his surname.
Mr Khumalo declared 12 September this year as the day for his coronation as King Mzilikazi II, which he said would also mark the official restoration of the Mthwakazi Kingdom. He said on the day he would also announce an interim council to help him run the kingdom which would have effectively seceded from Zimbabwe.
“The inauguration of King Mzilikazi II will be held on 12 September 2017. On that day we are going to raise the flag of Mthwakazi Kingdom to fly forever and any other flag that is not of Mthwakazi will cease to fly that day.
“On that day I will also officially announce the King’s interim Council that will effectively take on the governance of Mthwakazi in the interim, draft the constitution of the Kingdom and organise our first ever election as the Kingdom of Mthwakazi,” he said.
Mr Khumalo, who claims to have been anointed Ndebele King by God, said the venue for his coronation would be announced in due course. He said the Mthwakazi Kingdom had the right to secede from Zimbabwe as there was no legal agreement between him and the Zimbabwean Government for his empire to fall under Zimbabwe.
“As King Mzilikazi 11, I want to categorically state that there is nothing that legally or morally binds my country to Zimbabwe. I have no agreement with the Government of Zimbabwe for them to rule my country nor did my predecessors King Mzilikazi and King Lobhengula sign any,” he said.
Mr Khumalo claimed that any agreement that might have been made without the knowledge of King Mzilikazi and King Lobhengula would need to be ratified by him for it to be valid.
He went on to warn that anyone who may try to block his efforts to restore the Mthwakazi Kingdom “will attract a curse for themselves and for their families.
Mr Khumalo’s antics have previously drawn outrage from the Mthwakazi KaMzilikazi Cultural Society, an organisation that promotes Ndebele culture and is made up of members of the royal family. The society feels that Mr Khumalo is dragging the name of the royal family through the mud with his antics despite the fact that there are doubts of him being part of the Khumalos. Culturalists, academics and residents have dismissed him as “criminal” and an attention seeker.
Leaders of the Mthwakazi KaMzilikazi Cultural Society, Messers Actwell Mbambo, Nhlanhla Khumalo, Roger Mthethwa and Sipho Gama who visited Sunday News offices recently said they were dissociating themselves from Mr Khumalo’s “madness.”
The four said they were worried that Mr Khumalo whom they kept on referring to as Stanley Tshuma was misleading members of the public by holding sacred Ndebele ceremonies such as inxwala which were only presided over by the king.
“We are not happy that the name Mthwakazi is being tainted by a few individuals for political expediency. We are not fighting the Central Government as our agenda as Mthwakazi ka Mzilikazi is to see us co-existing with the Government. We are not secessionists at all. Our agenda is cultural not political. We want the restoration of the kingdom but we believe there is a need for us to respect the laws of the country as we move towards that, said Mr Nhlanhla Khumalo.
