‘Dangers of dagga’: South Africans blast King Dalindyebo over Israel trip
Social media users have reacted with fury, accusing the AbaThembu king of betraying South Africa’s pro-Palestine stance against Israel.
AbaThembu King Buyelekhaya Zwelibanzi Dalindyebo has drawn furious criticism this week after jetting off to Israel, contradicting South Africa’s hardline foreign policy and its pursuit of the genocide case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The controversial visit to Jerusalem saw the king meet with Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Gideon Sa’ar, as part of a delegation reportedly hosted by the Israeli ministry.
The delegation, which includes Twelve Apostles Church in Christ (TACC) Chief Apostle Caesar Nonqunga, Princess Ntando, Prince Sinethemba, and AbaThembu chiefs, plans to embark on a highly specific itinerary, according to a post on X (formerly Twitter) by the Embassy of Israel in South Africa.
The itinerary involves meeting with survivors of captivity, travelling to communities near the Gaza border to witness what the hosts term “atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7 2023”, and touring sites like the Nova Festival and Kibbutz Nir Oz.
An Israeli diplomat, David Saranga, welcomed the king by urging him to “come and see with your own eyes” what South African media supposedly does not show.
Outcry on X
Social media users reacted with fury, accusing the AbaThembu king of betraying South Africa’s pro-Palestine stance and some users lambasting the king for supposedly misusing the national flag.
Lukhona Mnguni, a political analyst and research director at Rivonia Circle, posted that use of the South African flag should “come under strict regulation, especially in matters that relate to contradicting our foreign policy”.
Another X user echoed Mnguni, posting: “I don’t know which department is responsible but we going to have to be strict about our flag. This is beyond insane.”
Another critic condemned the king for “shaking hands with the same country [Israel] that funded apartheid in South Africa”.
One X user bemoaned the dangers of dagga (the king is an admitted user) and asked why Israel still has an embassy in South Africa.
“Dangerous intsango [dagga]. But importantly, why do we steal [sic] have an embassy of a genocide-committing state, that we’ve taken to court?” the X user posted.
However, the reactions were not all outrage. Frmer Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy took to social media platform to proclaim: “The South African people are not their government!”
‘Wacky’ Dalindyebo: Israel trip awakens dagga and prison past
The king is certainly no stranger to public controversy. Dalindyebo is a self-confessed dagga smoker who claimed that the habit is a “cultural behaviour” as he identifies as a Rastafarian. He famously declared he would stop smoking dagga only when then-president Jacob Zuma stopped being corrupt.
Politically, the king has a history of shifting alliances, defecting from the African National Congress (ANC) – the party of his relative, Nelson Mandela – to join the opposition Democratic Alliance (DA) in 2013, before later aligning with the EFF.
His legal history is equally turbulent; Dalindyebo served time in prison after being convicted in 2009 for crimes including culpable homicide, arson and kidnapping, related to incidents where he burned properties and ordered the assault of youths, one of whom died.
While incarcerated, he filed a “bizarre” and “wacky” Constitutional Court application, requesting sovereignty for the AbaThembu territory so his crimes could be treated under customary law, rather than South African law.
SA’s tense ties with Israel and the precedent of MP visits
This visit echoes an earlier controversy this year, when at least nine South African members of Parliament (MPs) from the DA, Patriotic Alliance and African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) undertook a similar trip to Israel.
Organisers of that mission claimed the MPs found “no evidence of apartheid”, prompting accusations that the tour was a one-sided propaganda exercise.
The MPs’ mission in early 2025 and the king’s visit on Monday all happened while President Cyril Ramaphosa sits with a November 2023 parliamentary resolution to formally close the Israeli embassy. The Presidency maintains that the matter is “under consideration”.