King Misuzulu and his half-brother, Prince Simakade, in their early ages.
Image: Meta
AmaZulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini’s half-brother, Prince Simakade, said he was finding it difficult to entertain unity calls when he was denied access to justice by the Constitutional Court.
Responding to growing calls to accept the Constitutional Court ruling that affirmed Misuzulu as the legitimate AmaZulu monarch last week, Simakade said the peace talks must be preconditioned on truth and equal access to justice.
Speaking through his spokesperson, Prince Thokozani Zulu, on Monday night in response to the earlier call by Misuzulu in a media briefing on the same day, Simakade expressed confusion about the judgment, stating he has not yet received it. He wants to understand the justices' reasoning for dismissing his application for leave to appeal without even allowing him the opportunity to make representations.
“Ingonyama Simakade was denied access to justice. We were expecting that we would at least be allowed to make representations, but it never happened. We have not been given the judgment except for the order that was circulated on social media. This is a political judgment,” lamented Zulu.
On Monday, Misuzulu said he would continue to try to convince his half-brother, Prince Simakade, to return home and make peace despite Simakade rejecting the ruling, which affirmed him as the legitimate AmaZulu king.
On Friday, the Apex court rejected Simakade’s application for leave to appeal the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) affirmation of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recognition of Misuzulu as king of the Zulu nation. The court found that Simakade has no prospect of successfully appealing the SCA’s October 2025 ruling.
In the judgment, Deputy Chief Justice Dunstan Mlambo and his seven colleagues said the court had concluded that there were no reasonable prospects of success on the merits of the application for leave to appeal.
The chairperson of the royal council, Inkosi Zuzifa Buthelezi, said the ruling vindicated his father, the late Inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who maintained that Misuzulu was the rightful heir to the throne.
“Buthelezi stated that his father tolerated all the insults to ensure that the rightful king was installed. He was accused of interfering in royal family matters; some said he was not a family member, and the meeting he chaired was not a Zulu royal family meeting.”