Staff Reporter.
File Photo:President Cyril Ramaphosa pays a Courtesy visit to His Majesty, King Toni Mphephu Ramabulana (Left) and Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi at Dzanani in Nzhelele, Venda, Limpopo.
The acting king of Vhavenda, Toni Mphephu Ramabulana, has suffered another court blow after the Constitutional Court dismissed his application for leave to appeal a ruling by the Supreme Court of Appeal that he should not be Venda king.
The apex court refused condonation after his main application was filed late.
Mphephu Ramabulana and the Mphephu Ramabulana Royal Family Council had approached the apex court in an attempt to overturn the 2019 decision of the Supreme Court of Appeal that set aside former president Jacob Zuma’s decision to install Toni Mphephu Ramabulana as the acting king of Vhavenda.
This after Princess Masindi Mphephu, the princess of the Mphephu royal family,dragged then South African president Zuma and Toni court, claiming she was the rightful heir to the Vhavenda throne.
The court challenge also halted the coronation of her uncle.
The SCA had said in its ruling that the decision to recognise Toni as the rightful king “promotes gender discrimination”.
His appointment was ruled to be illegal and unconstitutional.
Though the royal council said at the time it would no longer be approaching the courts on the matter, they ended up approaching the apex court to set aside the SCA’s decision.
But Masindi emerged victorious again on Friday.
A unanimous judgment penned by Judge Sisi Khampepe reads in part: “The Constitutional Court noted that the consequences of a court finding that an administrative act is unlawful and unconstitutional, as the Supreme Court of Appeal did in respect of the Identification and Recognition Decisions, are dictated by the Constitution, in particular section 172(1)(a) which prescribes that an unlawful or unconstitutional administrative act must be declared invalid.