Durban – Prince Buzabazi, the latest Zulu royal to challenge King Misuzulu KaZwelithini for the throne, is caught up in a messy dispute over an unpaid debt with a public relations guru.
The debt has now landed the Prince in the Small Claims Court in Pretoria where PR practitioner, Christinah Chauke, is trying to recover R18 285.00 from him.
Prince Buzabazi is the third son of the late Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini and Queen Buhle Mathe of KwaDlamahlahla palace in Nongoma, northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Last Friday, during a press conference in Joburg, Prince Mbonisi and Prince Vulindela, both brothers of the late king, announced Prince Buzabazi as the “real heir” to the Zulu throne.
That added a third candidate to the fight for the throne as Prince Simakade, the oldest son of the late king, was already trying to wrestle it from King Misuzulu who is supported by the majority in the Zulu nation.
It has now emerged that Prince Buzabazi is being haunted by the debt and he could have to soon appear in court to defend himself.
The debt owed to Chauke came after she reached a gentlemen’s agreement with the Prince who wants to be king to provide public relations services for him.
Chauke, a Pretoria-based PR guru told IOL on Tuesday that she was head-hunted to do the job and she was later not paid. She said she was approaching the small claims court to seek redress.
NEWS: Prince Buzabazi, the latest Zulu royal to come out last week and challenge King Misuzulu for the prestigious throne, has been caught up in a messy dispute over an unpaid R18 285.00 PR consulting debt. The debt has now landed the Prince in the Small Claims Court. @IOL
— Sihle Mavuso (@ZANewsFlash) August 23, 2022
“I was head-hunted by Thabo Mokoena, a friend of the king and Dudu Mtshali, a girlfriend of Prince Buzabazi to work on a PR strategy that will introduce him as the right Zulu king.
“Of course the money I claimed for the work was little. That was because I was told to be lenient as I will start billing them accordingly once the Prince has taken the throne.
"Part of my work was to monitor Prince Misuzulu then and formulate a counter strategy. When I said the agreement should be in writing, they did not do it and we ended up having a verbal one,” Chauke said.
When Chauke could not get the money, she dashed to the Small Claims Court in Pretoria in a bid to get it.
After hours of rituals inside the sacred royal kraal, #King #Misuzulu #KaZwelithini has come out fully dressed as King. He is now fully on the throne. 🎥: @ZANewsFlash #ZuluRoyals #Zulu pic.twitter.com/DVviQZSs89
In response to that claim, Prince Buzubazi, through his Johannesburg-based law firm, Peter Zwane attorneys, among other letters, first denied the debt owed and later offered to settle it.
“Without accepting liability and the correctness of your invoice dated the 14th August 2021, our client, in good faith and in the interest of finality, hereby proposes to pay R 6 000.00 (six thousand rand) in full and final settlement of this matter.
“To unreservedly apologize for the inconvenience caused to yourself by all involved... The payment of R6 000 payable on or before January 31, 2022. We hope the above is in order and look forward to hearing from you,” the law firm wrote to Chauke on January 23.
But the money was never paid.
Prince Buzabazi directed all questions to Mokoena.
In his long explanation, Mokoena said the prince was a victim of Chauke who reneged from a previous agreement and saw an opportunity to make money.
“The agreement was that she was volunteering and I said to her she might end up doing the PR work for the entire royal family (once Prince Buzabazi) has become king.
“Last year in June there was a meeting in Nongoma with the royal house where Christinah was introduced. It was agreed that she will volunteer and she might later score a permanent deal,” Mokoena said.
Mokoena said they were taken aback when Chauke started “extorting money” from them and threatened to go public about their deal.
“I was taken aback when she invoiced us and Prince Buzabazi. Our deal was that we were all volunteering our services to the royal house.
“She even contacted Prince Mbonisi (to demand payment) because she said we are ignoring her.
“Prince Buzabazi was alerted of the matter and said he wanted to settle the debt even though he had nothing to do with it.
“The prince wanted to save his name from being dragged through the mud. Christinah was even threatening to go public and spill the beans about prince and his private life which she got to know about while doing the PR work,” Mokoena claimed.
Mokoena could not explain what stopped Prince Buzabazi from settling the debt as per his initial and unsolicited undertaking.
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