WE CONNECT WITH ABATHEMBU KING IN MTHATHA!
Oh what a welcome!
On 19 October 2024, the Net Nine Nine leadership held a lunch meeting with AbaThembu King, Buyelekhaya Zwelibanzi Dalindyebo KaSabata, at his Palace, Mqhekezweni, where his wife, Queen Khazeka Nolubabalo Mcinga Dalindyebo, was present.
It was a successful meeting at their Mthatha homestead in the Eastern Cape where both respectable Kingdom leaders served a special meal for the Net Nine Nine crew led by CEO Albert Oosthuysen, Chief of Staff, Nicholas Thipe and COO Andrew Cohoe in a meeting where both parties fostered relationship to work together in future.
Learn about the Abathembu clan!
The fibre internet service provider staff was firstly educated about the Abathembu clan and what their ambition is about the community full of rich history, and lineage of the tribe dates back in the early 19th century when it was historically known as Thembuland.
The Thembus, a Xhosa speaking nation, were firstly led by ancestor Mbulali, whose grandson (named Thembu), led his people from what became the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal to Dedesi in the present-day Transkei region of South Africa, according to Wikipedia.
It explains that the Thembu emerged as unified people during the reign of Ngxeko/Nxekwa, who united clans living in Thembuland into a single political entity, owing allegiance to the Thembu royal family, or “Hala Mvelase.”
Who is King Dalindyebo?
Among the famous Thembus include South Africa’s first democratic President Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela, whose father was a reigning nobleman from a junior branch of the Madiba clan of kings, and Walter Sisulu.
Dalindyebo is reportedly a trained Mkhonto we Sizwe Member, a military wing of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), and went to exile at a young age in Zambia in 1974 living under President Kenneth Kaunda, trained by people like the late Chris Hani.
Dalindyebo returned to South Africa as a 26-year-old in 1989 and was restored as the King of the AbaThembu clan after years of interference in royal and traditional affairs by the then government.
We learn something new daily!
Thipe admitted that it was a great and wise move by Net Nine Nine to visit Mthatha: “We learn something new every day, and this one was another eye opener.”
All greet and sign off with CAMAGU, a Xhosa term frequently used in all situations in which the ancestors are involved, all meant to bless, appease, forgive, praise and to honour.
