President Cyril Ramaphosa says the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria misdirected itself when it ordered him to set up an investigative committee that should probe allegations that AmaZulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini was not identified in line with traditional customs.

On Monday, the president filed for leave to appeal Judge Norman Davis' ruling which nullified and invalidated his recognition of Misuzulu as king of the Zulu nation in a government gazette in March last year.

In his ruling last week Monday, Davis said the president had breached the Traditional and Khoi-San Leadership Act by recognising Misuzulu as king without first dealing with the allegations that his ascension to the AmaZulu throne was in contrast to customary laws.

Davis' ruling followed an application by Prince Simakade Zulu, one of Zwelithini's sons, and the late king's half-brother Prince Mbonisi Zulu, among other AmaZulu royal family members, who challenged Ramaphosa's decision to certify Misuzulu as the Zulu monarch.

The matter, which was defended by the president, King Misuzulu and others, was heard over three days in October.

In his leave to appeal papers, seen by News24, the president said he recognised King Misuzulu following a KwaZulu-Natal High Court ruling by acting Judge President Isaac Madondo, which said the king was identified lawfully.

The president said:

The court ought to have found that section 8(4) of the Leadership Act did not apply as the jurisdictional requirements triggering its application, namely an allegation or evidence that the identification of Prince Misuzulu (as he then was) as a king was not done in accordance with customary law and customs, had already been finally determined in the judgment of Madondo AJP, which issue the court a quo found to be res judicata [already dealt with].

"Consequently, and having found that it was not open for His Lordship to overturn the judgment of Madondo AJP which, in turn, found that the decision taken on 14 May 2021 to identify King Misuzulu as successor to the throne had been taken in terms of Zulu law and customs, the court erred and misdirected itself in directing the president to appoint an investigative committee, as contemplated in the Leadership Act, to conduct an investigation and to provide a report in respect of allegations that the identification of King Misuzulu was not done in terms of customary laws and customs."

The matter is expected to be argued in court next year.