‘Dalindyebo pardon’ needs to be handled with care – Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa appears to be leaning towards a decision to pardon abaThembu King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo.

The president has reportedly been considering Dalindyebo’s pardon since early April after receiving a recommendation from Justice Minister Michael Masutha to do so.

Asked about the Zulu’s king’s pardon, Ramaphosa said on Thursday that the presidency was “working on it, going through legal processes to ensure that they did not make any reckless decisions” in regards to the matter.

“It’s got to be handled with care, properly and legally.”

The president has received pressure to decide after three kings allegedly issued an ultimatum to him, tasking the president to release Dalindyebo or kiss their subjects’ votes goodbye. Their deadline was for Monday according to eNCA.

This was in relation to the king allegedly torching a group of people’s homes, and administering corporal punishment including kidnapping the family of a man who failed to appear before his court.

The abaThembu king, who started serving his sentence in December 2015, is currently serving time for assault, arson, and defeating the ends of justice.

Dalindyebo was sentenced in the Eastern Cape High Court in 2009 to 15 years in jail for seven counts of kidnapping, three of assault, three for arson and one each for defeating the ends of justice and culpable homicide. In 2015 the Supreme Court of Appeal reduced his sentence by three years.

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