{{Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, the king of Nelson Mandela\u2019s Thembu tribe, has defected from the ruling African national Congress (ANC) to join the Democratic Alliance (DA), days after launching a fierce attack on President Jacob Zuma.}}<\/p>\n
Dalindyebo, who rules over Mandela\u2019s tribe in the Eastern Cape province, the ANC heartland, was photographed holding a DA membership card in a very public snub to the ruling party.<\/p>\n
Last week, Dalindyebo \u2013 no stranger to controversy \u2013 called Zuma a parasite, accusing him of being in the pocket of corrupt individuals.<\/p>\n
Democratic Alliance (DA) spokesman, Mmusi Maimane, said although they do not agree with some of the king\u2019s statements \u201canyone is free to join the DA.\u201d<\/p>\n
The king has spoken about his regular use of cannabis and has been charged with manslaughter, arson, assault and kidnapping.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that he represents an important component of society in the Eastern Cape,\u201d Maimane said.<\/p>\n
The predominantly white party, which runs the Western Cape province, is trying to boost its profile in black areas ahead of the 2014 elections.<\/p>\n
Dalindyebo was visited at his palace by DA regional leader, Athol Trollip, after he expressed a desire to join the party.<\/p>\n
Tribal chiefs in South Africa are seen as crucial for tapping the rural electorate, which bears the brunt of poverty and lack of services.<\/p>\n
The controversial king claimed joining the party would be a gift to the ailing Mandela, whom he has visited in hospital.<\/p>\n
{wirestory}<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
{{Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, the king of Nelson Mandela\u2019s Thembu tribe, has defected from the ruling African national Congress (ANC) to join the Democratic Alliance (DA), days after launching a fierce attack on President Jacob Zuma.}} Dalindyebo, who rules over Mandela\u2019s tribe in the Eastern Cape province, the ANC heartland, was photographed holding a DA membership card […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[100],"byline":[170],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-9105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-culture","tag-africa","byline-igihe"],"bylines":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"contributors":[{"id":170,"name":"IGIHE","slug":"igihe","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":8}],"featured_image":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9105"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=9105"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=9105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}