Court’s ruling ends Prince Simakade’s legal battle

PRINCE Simakade kaZwelithini has expressed his disappointment with the Constitutional Court, which on Friday rejected his application for leave to appeal the Supreme Court of Appeal’s (SCA) affirmation of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recognition of King Misuzulu kaZwelithini as the king of the Zulu nation.

- BONGANI HANS

The Apex court found that Prince Simakade had no prospect of successfully appealing against the SCA’s October 2025 ruling.

A faction of the Zulu royal family recognises Prince Simakade as the rightful heir to the throne after the death of his father, King Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu, on March 12, 2021.

The Constitutional Court ruling was the finalisation of the legal battle that Prince Simakade started by approaching the Pretoria High Court to seek to nullify Ramaphosa’s decision to issue a letter of King Misuzulu’s recognition.

In the court judgment, Deputy Chief Justice Dunstan Mlambo and his seven colleagues said the court had concluded that there were no reasonable prospects of success on the merits of the application for leave to appeal.

“Consequently, condonation must be granted, but leave to appeal must be refused with costs for lack of reasonable prospects of success,” read the court judgment.

Prince Simakade’s spokesperson, Prince Thokozani Zulu, said this meant the end of the legal battle. However, he still viewed it as politically motivated to favour King Misuzulu at all costs.