Zulu King MisuZulu ka Zwelithini Photo: Darren Stewart/Getty Images
A visit by parliament’s portfolio committee on land reform and rural development to KwaZulu-Natal to resolve tensions between King MisuZulu ka Zwelithini and the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) has been delayed until after next month’s State of the Nation address.
The committee had planned to visit the province this week, before the last-minute postponement, chairperson Mangaqa Albert Mncwango said.
Relations have soured between MisuZulu and the board over several issues, including his attempt to appoint the lawyers representing him in his succession battle to conduct an audit of ITB land.
The monarch’s lawyer, Stephen Rakwena, said earlier this month that he had been appointed to investigate the sale of a farm near Umhlali on the North Coast by the ITB on the king’s instruction and accused its leadership of obstructing him.
Mncwango noted that as the parliamentary committee was organising the visit to KwaZulu-Natal, the king had signed a letter dissolving the ITB.
“When we began to look at that, he then fired the chief executive of the ITB together with the chief financial officer. Of course, before that, he had appointed a team of lawyers from Mpumalanga and he gave them the power of attorney to run the affairs of the ITB,” Mncwango added.
Land Reform Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso then stepped in to remind the king that he does not have the powers to fire board members, who were appointed and removed through a ministerial prerogative, and that the appointment of the lawyers to take over its running was unlawful.
Mncwango said the committee had met Nyhontso earlier this month and the minister reiterated his stance on the king’s decision to dissolve the ITB.
“The minister briefed us and said that he had written to the king, but had not received a response as the king was in seclusion. He hoped that once the king was out, he would receive a response so that he could pursue the matter further,” Mncwango said.
“We were hoping to go and meet the king and the ITB, but on Thursday last week, we received a call from the house chairperson saying that he had consulted the speaker and they agreed that the timing was not good. They felt that the minister, who is on a trip abroad, and the president need to be in the country because there are sensitivities that need to be taken care of.”
Committee members expressed disappointment about the postponement of the oversight visit.
Bonginkosi Madikizela, of the Democratic Alliance, said he felt the house chair and the speaker of parliament had made the wrong decision, because events that had transpired regarding the Ingonyama Trust over the past year made the visit a necessity.
“We as a committee wanted to embark on a fact finding mission, because we wanted to better understand the actions of the king. We have a role to play in assisting to resolve the challenges that exist in the Ingonyama Trust,” Madikizela said.
uMkhonto weSizwe party MP Andile Mngxitama said it was crucial to quickly stabilise the Ingonyama Trust, whose board administers nearly three million hectares of land in KwaZulu-Natal, which falls under traditional authorities, on behalf of the king.
“The land belongs to the king, but he has no administrative or executive powers to appoint his own board. That is the source of the tension. We need to be proactive in resolving that particular problem so that stability can be brought to the Ingonyama Trust,” he said.
Source:
mg.co.za
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