The Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Velenkosini Hlabisa, has condemned reports of the coronation of a Nigerian king in the Eastern Cape.
The AbaThembu Royal Council says it’s going to write to the Nigerian Consulate in South Africa about the alleged coronation of a Nigerian king in the Eastern Cape. https://t.co/94XjIeyVbD
— SABC News (@SABCNews) March 22, 2026
Speaking to the SABC on the sidelines of the Inkatha Freedom Party’s 51st anniversary celebration in Bethal in Mpumalanga. Hlabisa insists they have not yet received concrete reports on the matter besides social media posts.
“What is being shown in the social media, we regard it as just the Sunday school playing of kids who do not know what they are actually doing except playing. South Africa has enough kings who are the beings who are custodians of our culture. A person belonging to Nigeria must go back to Nigeria and be a custodian in Nigeria because it’s an insult to come into another country, it’s an undermining of the sovereignty of the Republic of South Africa.”
