THE king of the Aba Thembu, the clan of South Africa’s late President Nelson Mandela has commemnced a 12-year jail sentence for arson, kidnapping and assault.

Fifty-one years old King Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, was convicted of the offenses in 2009 but had been fighting the verdict in the courts for years. He turned himself over to the Mthatha Correctional Center in the Eastern Cape Province just before midnight on Wednesday, media reported.

According to Reuters, prosecutors said the king kidnapped some of his subjects and had their homes set ablaze to punish those who refused to do his bidding.

Dalindyebo is a flamboyant figure who once threatened to secede from South Africa. He also drew attention for supporting South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, and harshly criticizing President Jacob Zuma, reportedly saying he would stop consuming drugs “the day Zuma stops being corrupt.”

The king was prosecuted for burning homes and other violence against some of his subjects in the 1990s. In an October ruling, an appeal court said Dalindyebo abused his position and that the Constitution guarantees equal treatment under the law. The court in its ruling said, “Imagine a tyrannical and despotic king who set fire to the houses, crops and livestock of subsistence farmers living within his jurisdiction, in full view of their families, because they resisted his attempts to have them evicted, or otherwise did not immediately comply with his orders.” The king said he acted in the best interests of his subjects.

Nelson Mandela, the anti-apartheid leader who became president, was from the Thembu group, who speaks Xhosa.