By Paul Nyathi| With just a month left before the high profile and highly publicised coronation of Prince Bulelani Lobengula Khumalo as King of the Ndebele people, the South African had declined to take the offer as King.
In a letter made available to ZimEye.com and copied here, Bulelani said that he has been declining the offer for the last three years but leaders of the Royal Khumalo Family in Zimbabwe keep insisting on him to take the offer.
The letter which has attracted a wide reaction from the people in Matabeleland has been confirmed as authentic by some sectors of the Ndebele community while another claim it to be a fake publication by people who are against his coronation.
ZimEye.com is making frantic efforts to get the correct side of the matter. Some members of the Khumalo family have refused to give ZimEye.com Prince Bulelani Lobengula Khumalo’s contact numbers to get his confirmed position on the matter.
Full letter supposedly written by Bulelani Lobengula Khumalo reads as follows:
“I hereby write to the generality of Mthwakazi, and the world at large, regarding a simmering issue in Zimbabwe. I am aware that the issues I am going to discuss here are important to the people of my forefathers, and I shall be as honest as possible. To those who will be disturbed by my discussion, I do sincerely apologise in advance.
I was born in South Africa, and for all practical purposes, that is the country I call home. I am aware that my forefathers established a successful nation called Mthwakazi, and it is today part of present day Zimbabwe. I am aware that the people of my forefathers have a programme to resuscitate their nationhood, in the way they think is best. I have been approached many times by some of the leaders to stand in as their King. These leaders have traced my blood and have found out that I am born of royal blood. Their efforts are noble. However, in my sincere and honest opinion, I can NOT lead a people I was not raised among. I can not pretend to stand up for the people in Mthwakazi and their interests, when I have no attachment to those interests. I therefore hereby write to apologise to the leaders who approached me on the matter, and to Mthwakazi as a whole. I put it here and now, that I can Not be a Ndebele King.
The coronation ceremony is being organised for 03 March 2018, and I continue telling the leadership from Zimbabwe that I am not interested in this matter, and I am not the best person to represent these people, in whatever form. This is why I did not turn up in September 2017, when they were releasing my name to the public. Unfortunately, among the organisers, there is a group that want this done no matter what. I can not lie to the people. I can not put false hope in the Ndebele people in Zimbabwe. I am aware that there are more able persons and better interested individuals within the Ndebele community than I am. Why then don’t this leadership focus on those people, with the ability and interest at heart. I have taken to publishing my position, because I have said this in private meetings and quarters for more than three years now, and this leadership does not take heed. I shall not discuss the possibility of their private interests here, however, I want the people in the land of my forefathers to know that I am not the messiah they may hope for, and may have been told is coming. I implore them to search among themselves for a King who shall represent their interests fully.
Without disrespecting anyone, I put the matter to rest.
Yours Sincerely
Bulelani Collins Lobhengula Khumalo
email: bulelani.collins.khumalo@gmail
.com”