King Misuzulu ka Zwelithini. Photo: Supplied.
King Misuzulu ka Zwelithini has ordered Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) chairperson Jerome Ngwenya to publicly account for the entity’s finances within seven days in a bid to enforce transparency and accountability in its workings.
The monarch made the intervention this week days after the Mail & Guardian exposed that the ITB had failed to account to the auditor general for R41 million it transferred to its investment wing, Ingonyama Holdings, during 2021.
The money was paid to two legal firms and to an investment company, AIN Private Capital, Pty Limited, which was registered only four months before the payments began in March 2021.
Misuzulu is the sole trustee of the Ingonyama Trust, and is responsible for appointing the chairperson of the board, the rest of whose members are nominated by provincial and national government and the House of Traditional Leaders.
In a statement, the monarch said he had summoned Ngwenya, who was appointed by his late father in 2000, “upon the emergence of negative news reports relating to financial management in the organisation”.
“I convened a meeting with the chairperson of the board. In that meeting I received a full report on the operations of the Ingonyama Trust Board, including programmes and finances.”
The monarch then instructed Ngwenya to present the same report to the office of Mangosuthu Buthelezi, his traditional prime minister; the KwaZulu-Natal premier, Nomusa Dube-Ncube; the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature; and the media within seven days.
Ngwenya was also instructed to ensure that the same report be “presented to the nation” through isiZulu newspapers, local media and Ukhozi FM.
The move by the king is in line with his announcement in his address to the opening of the provincial legislature last week that he would take steps to ensure transparency and public participation in the ITB and other institutions of traditional leadership.
It is also significant, because parliament and the auditor general have been battling to hold the ITB to account over its corporate governance and the spending of R22 million allocated annually from the state and another R80m a year it raises in rentals and land use agreements.
“I consider it appropriate that as an incoming incumbent on the throne, it is important that I familiarise myself with the operational workings of the board, the trust and the entire traditional leadership and the people,” the king said. “Part of my journey is to invite the senior management of the board and previous board members. To this extent I have instructed that a date be arranged soon whereby I can interact with these identified stakeholders.”
He also called for integrity and decency on the part of those occupying positions in government, the private sector and traditional leadership.
“I implore everyone, at whatever level they may be serving, to religiously follow the dictates of practices and principles of conscious leadership.”
Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza, under whom the board falls, is in the process of appointing a permanent board to replace the interim one chaired by Ngwenya.
Misuzulu had nominated businessperson Jacob Mnisi as his choice to chair the new board, but Mnisi declined because of a tribalist response to his name being proffered.
The situation has delayed the final appointment of the new board, but the intervention by the monarch may be an indication that Didiza will do so in the near future.