The ground-breaking High Court ruling that headmanships, whether hereditary or not, have no royal family independence from their senior traditional leaders – meaning the incumbent cannot automatically be succeeded by their sons and that they have no right to decide on the successor – is being appealed.

A Daily Dispatch report says aggrieved Maxwele royal family and Asiphe Solanga Maxwele, son of sacked headwoman Nosizwe Maxwele, maintain that they have a hereditary headmanship in their royal family of Zimbane administrative area in Mthatha, where they have ruled 23 villages for many generations.

The Zimbane headmanship went to court after Nosizwe’s brother-in-law, Baxolele Maxwele, was recognised by the provincial government as acting Zimbane headman instead of Asiphe.

The government recognised Baxolele after a submission in his favour was submitted by the Sangoni royal family, who are senior traditional leaders and rulers of the Qokolweni traditional council, to which the Zimbane headmanship reports.

Acting Judge Mvuzo Notyesi, in his landmark 23 March judgment, ruled: ‘In my view, headmanship does not qualify as the royal family. It is irrelevant that the headmanship is hereditary. A headman is subjected to the royal family of the senior traditional leader as the administration is not the traditional community.’

Notyesi said that according to the Traditional Leadership and Governance Framework Amendment Act, read with the Eastern Cape Traditional Leadership and Governance Act, only a senior traditional leader has a royal family; only this structure can appoint and dismiss headmen or headwomen.

Notyesi said royal families are traditional leaders ruling traditional communities, and that headmen rule over administrative areas, which in the law are not defined as traditional communities.

Asiphe’s lawyer, Sipho Zono has filed an application for leave to appeal the whole judgment and order.

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