Chieftainship wrangle finally resolved

by Beitbridge Reporter

2012 June 19 10:04:28 | 1213 Views

THE Chiefs' Council on Friday finally resolved the Sitauze chieftainship wrangle, which had rocked the Beitbridge royal family since the death of Chief Pariti Sitauze in 2006.

The latest development brought to an end the fierce six year-old feud that had since divided the Sitauze family into rival camps, one led by the late chief's brother, Mr Muvhuso Sitauze, and the other by Mr Johnson Mbedzi, a descendant of Pariti's brother, Marema. Mbedzi is representing the Diasikwa clan while Muvhuso is of the Siturimani clan.

Last year, a special committee from the Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development had appointed David Cleopatra Sitauze (20), as Chief Sitauze. The committee also resolved to appoint David's uncle, Muvhuso, as regent until his nephew was old enough to take over the reign. The committee, which was chaired by the provincial administrator for Matabeleland North, Ms Latiso Dlamini, subsequently endorsed the appointments during a meeting held at the chief's homestead in Mpande Village on 24 February 2011.

The matter, however, later took a new twist after a rival camp led by Mr Mbedzi filed an urgent application at the High Court opposing the decision by the special committee to appoint David as Chief Sitauze citing irregularities.

According to the High Court documents, Case Number HC 764/11, Muvhuso was cited as the first respondent while the district administrator for Beitbridge, Mr Simon Muleya, and the Minister of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development, Ignatius Chombo, were second and third respondents respectively.

The Johnson camp accused Muleya of "lacking transparency" in handling the issue.

The High Court then ruled that Muleya convene a meeting involving both members of the contesting families. During the previous meeting held on 22 March, the two families were directed to come up with their family trees from which the Sitauze chieftainship originated.

The meeting agreed that Muleya, with the help of elders from both families, would draw the extension tree of the Diasikwa family to determine a possible successor to the late Chief Pariti Sitauze.

In its ruling during last Friday's meeting held at the chief's kraal, the Chiefs' Council stood by the Ms Dlamini-led special committee's decision when it retained David Sitauze, arguing that the appointment was in line with the prevailing customary principles of succession.

The director of Traditional Leaders' Support Services in the Ministry of Local Government, Rural and Urban Development, Mr Fanuel Mukwaira, said the Chiefs' Council's decision was final.

"The Chiefs' Council has appointed David Cleopatra Sitauze as Chief Sitauze. In fact, we took into account the prevailing Venda customary principles.

"We noted in their argument that the Diasikwa clan was saying that the chieftainship was stolen from its forefather, Matshavha Mbedzi. In fact, when Matshavha left for Mberengwa, he left a vacuum resulting in the appointment of Siturimani in 1917 as Chief Sitauze and this is the line that we are following.

"In addition to that, we also noted that according to the Venda tradition, chieftainship is passed on from father to the eldest surviving son hence the opposing group did not follow the proper procedures when it nominated a woman for the chieftainship," he said.

Siturimani is the late Chief Pariti Sitauze's grandfather.

The Diasikwa clan had nominated Ms Rebecca Mbedzi for chieftainship and the arrangement was that in the event that she had won the bid to rule, she would transfer the reign to Johnson.

However, despite the appointment of the new Chief Sitauze, Johnson is still a bitter man, arguing that the Siturimani clan had stolen their chieftainship.

"My great-grandfather, Matshavha, was the chief and when he died, my grandfather, Tsetsana Mbedzi, was supposed to take over, but however, he was chased away and he crossed over to South Africa and the then local native commissioner replaced him with Siturimani who was not even part of the royal family.

"I feel that we have been betrayed by the Chiefs' Council because I believe this was the right time for us to retain our lost chieftainship since we are the rightful people," said Mr Mbedzi.

The late cult hero of the opposing side, Marema, was born together with Matshavha and Mauda being sons of Diasikwa, the man who started a bitter fight with Siturimani in the late 1930s.

Chieftainship Wrangle

Source: TC