By: Nompendulo Ngubane
The Ingonyama Trust Board says the intervention by Minister of Land Reform and Rural Development, Mzwanele Nyhontso, is unlawful and inconsistent with existing legislation.
This follows the minister’s recent announcement that the board has been disbanded and that an administrator has been appointed to oversee its operations.
However, the board insists it remains a legally constituted entity despite current vacancies. It says the governing legislation allows it to continue functioning and makes provision for those positions to be filled in due course.
The Board has also rejected the appointment of an administrator, arguing that such a move is not supported by the Public Finance Management Act (PFMA), which regulates financial governance in state institutions.
The Ingonyama Trust, established in 1994, administers land held in trust for the benefit of millions of people in KwaZulu-Natal, making the governance of the board a matter of significant public interest.
“We will approach the courts for the review of this decision. The minister is politicising everything. When the first board member resigned in 2024, the minister had to appoint a new member and align that new member’s term accordingly.
“We respect his letter, but we do not agree with it because the intervention is inconsistent and unlawful,” said the Board’s Acting CEO, Siyamdumisa Vilakazi.
