King Sabata Jonguhlanga Dalindyebo – Qhawe lama Qhawe
On 6 April 1986 – precisely forty years ago – King Sabata Dalindyebo passed on in Lusaka, Zambia, where he had lived for more than six years. Kumkani Sabata, King of the Thembus, was born in Tyalara, Transkei, on 25 November 1928 – only a month after his father, King Sampu Jongilizwe Mtirara, had died.
He was related to both Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela and Chief Kaiser Matanzima, former “President” of the Transkei. Chief Matanzima, however, was a deadly foe of both King Sabata and Nelson Mandela – his cousins – though at times he made empty gestures to Mandela. Two of King Sabata’s uncles acted as regents before he was installed as Paramount Chief in 1954.
With the aid of the racist South African regime, Matanzima worked hard to establish a power base. Apartheid Pretoria was desperate to find a relatively ‘competent’ figure to make the bantustan policy work. King Sabata led protests to Pretoria, but despite the opposition Matanzima was elevated to the level of Regional Chief of Emigrant Thembuland. In 1961, he got a new office: Chairman of the Transkei Territorial Authority. In 1963, the Democratic Party led by Victor Poto, with the backing of King Sabata, won the first elections in the Transkei, thus defeating Matanzima’s supporters. This was overturned. Matanzima was elevated to the status of Paramount Chief. He was preparing for the final coup.
King Sabata used his traditional power bas
