The move by Buyelekhaya Dalindyebo, King of the Thembu tribe, follows his conviction for multiple crimes including culpable homicide, kidnapping and arson, and a 15-year prison sentence. He was convicted of the offences last year but is appealing and has been granted bail in the meantime.
"We have officially cut ties with South Africa, and we are no longer South African," said Votani Majola, the king's lawyer, who filed the declaration with the parliament in Cape Town.
He told the Daily Dispatch newspaper that the independent nation of "Thembuland" includes most of the existing country, including its three major cities, Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban, all of KwaZulu-Natal and the Western, Eastern and Northern Cape provinces, plus parts of the Free State and Gauteng.
He is also demanding around £7 billion in compensation for the "insult" that the trial of the king represented.
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