Mphephu-Ramabulana was officially recognised as the king of the VhaVenda Community in a proclamation signed by former president Jacob Zuma in 2012. But he wasA year later, Mphephu-Ramabulana was ordered to pay R5.6 million toLast year, the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg heard that between 2015 and 2018, Mphephu-Ramabulana received millions of rands in financing to buy a Range Rover 5.0 V8, a BMW 760i Sedan, and a Mercedes-Benz V250d.
But he defaulted on his vehicle repayments. He was later issued with a letter of demand by Rooplal, who had been appointed VBS's liquidator in 2018. While the Mphephu-Ramabulana's lawyers initially agreed that he would make the necessary repayments, they later changed track to argue that VBS was not a registered credit provider and should not have lent funds to the"overindebted" king.