Zukile Majova
It doesn’t rain but pours for covidpreneur AmaBhaca King Madzikane II Thandisizwe Diko.
He is the husband of President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Khusela Diko.
The couple – along with Gauteng Health MEC Bandile Masuku and his wife Johannesburg MMC for Group Corporate and Shared Services, Loyiso Masuku – are implicated in a R125 million PPE tender scandal.
But the ‘king’ has been having dilemmas of his own:
The Eastern Cape Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs has rejected his claim of being a king saying he was just a chief of two villages.
- The department has rejected Diko’s amendment of his name from Chief Thandisizwe Diko to King Madzikane II Thandisizwe Diko. He is accused of trying to claim close proximity to the throne by naming himself after King Madzikane, a former military general of King Shaka who led the AmaBhaca people out of Stanger in KZN to settle in the Eastern Cape
- On Thursday, Diko woke up to a protest by his subjects at Ncunteni village outside Mount Frere in the Eastern Cape, who are accusing him of abusing them and their good name. They say he set up Royal Bhaca Projects, a private company to enrich himself, while creating an impression it had the endorsement of and would benefit AmaBhaca people. And after the Sunday Independent reported he got R80 million from the PPE tender scandal, villagers are accusing Diko of profiteering using their name while they continue to live in squalor
- They are accusing him of rerouting a main road that passed by his house and fencing it, making it part of his so-called palace
Photo: The Dikos (Facebook)
