One King, Two Burials: The Politics of Funerals in South Africa's Transkei

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Periodical article

Title:	One King, Two Burials: The Politics of Funerals in South Africa's Transkei
Author:	Dennie, Garrey M.
Year:	1992
Periodical:	Journal of Contemporary African Studies
Volume:	11
Issue:	2
Pages:	76-87
Language:	English
Geographic terms:	South Africa Transkei
Subjects:	Tembu traditional rulers funerals Politics and Government Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Abstract:	King Sabata Jonguhlanga Dalindyebo, deposed Paramount Chief of the Thembu (Transkei, South Africa), was buried twice. The first interment took place on 20 April 1986, the second on 1 October 1989. The first interment was a pauper's burial, the second a king's burial. This paper explores the contests which produced the different burial rituals (or lack thereof), and subjects the rituals themselves to closer examination in a search for their meanings. The most crucial argument advanced in this paper is that the struggles which surrounded the control of the burials of the Thembu king were urgent attempts to appropriate the dead body in a bid to inscribe and to rewrite specific political messages on the corpse, and to erase others. The parties involved in these struggles were Kaiser Matanzima, ex-President of Transkei, and the family of Dalindyebo, the ANC and its affiliated organizations, together with the current military leader of Transkei, General Bantu Holomisa. Bibliogr., notes, ref.