Urgent: The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union wants
Agriculture Minister Thoko Didiza to act to avoid a ‘money heist’ at the
Ingonyama Trust Board. Photo: Alet Pretorius/Gallo Images
The National Education, Health and Allied Workers Union (Nehawu) wants agriculture minister Thoko Didiza to appoint a forensic audit into the finances of the Ingonyama Trust Board over a dubious R41 million investment.
The union represents the workers at the entity, which falls under the department of land reform, agriculture and rural development, and is in the process of retrenching half of its more than 60 staff members.
Nehawu KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary Ayanda Zulu said they wanted Didiza to carry out the forensic audit and place the body under administration after revelations by Mail & Guardian that the money had been paid to a four-month-old consultancy on behalf of Ingonyama Holdings.
King Misuzulu ka Zwelithini, on whose behalf the Ingonyama Trust Board administers nearly three million hectares of the province, intervened after the reports, instructing ITB chairperson Jerome Ngwenya to account publicly for the investments.
Ngwenya did so, saying that the money had been “syphoned off”, but confirming that the Ingonyama Holdings had declared a dispute with the consultants, AIN Private Capital, for failing to deliver any of the promised R2 billion in investments.
Zulu said that the relationship between the ITB, the Ingonyama Trust and Ingonyama Holdings was of “great concern” to workers, 33 of whom faced retrenchment due to a lack of funding from the central government.
“We think that this must be clarified and regularised. If not, we believe that we are going to have a money heist within the ITB based on the relations between these entities, which almost operate as one,” Zulu said.
Zulu said they were “worried” that the ITB could invest R41 million while workers were being paid late, were being denied wage increases and had lost 10 of their colleagues due to forced retrenchment during the same period.
“They are still working on retrenching almost half of the staff, yet they are spending money in such a questionable fashion, at a time when workers at the entity are suffering,” he said.
Didiza needed to intervene urgently, Zulu said.
“It is now in the public [domain] about the state of the ITB’s finances and financial controls and the lack of accountability at the entity. There are reports that have been raised by the auditor general about the state of its finances. We say that it is now time that the minister must initiate a forensic investigation into the entity,” Zulu said.
“It is obvious that the board has failed. Maybe it is now time to assist the entity from a governance perspective and exercise its oversight powers and appoint an administrator,” Zulu said.
Zulu said Nehawu welcomed the intervention of the monarch, adding that Nehawu would seek a meeting with Didiza to urge her to act if the board “does not give us satisfaction” on employer-to-employee issues.
Didiza has already deployed senior staff from her department to try to stabilise the ITB’s finances and is ready to appoint a permanent board to replace the interim one currently still in place.
However, the process has been further delayed over the choice of a new chairperson by the king to replace Ngwenya, who has served in the position for nearly 20 years.
Jacob Mnisi, the monarch’s choice nominee, declined the nomination over a tribalist backlash he faced, but it is understood that behind-the-scenes negotiations may see him accept the appointment are underway.
The king’s intervention in the ITB has been welcomed by the ANC in the province, which has also backed his call on civil servants to act with decency.
“We believe that such a call by his majesty is a sign of bold leadership and the desire on
his part to promote integrity in the civil service. We are calling on ANC deployees in various spheres of government to heed his majesty’s call,” provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo said.
Mtolo said MPs in the land reform portfolio committee and the auditor general needed to continue with their attempts to play their oversight role on the entity and ensure that legal prescripts were followed with regard to its finances.
Mtolo said the ANC wanted forums created through which traditional leaders and local governments could collaborate to improve socio-economic development using land under the ITB.
“We want to see discussions between municipalities and the Ingonyama Trust Board on a regular and structured basis. This will help to facilitate rural development, improve socio-economic conditions and resolve matters of rates and levies and the obligations that flow from such,” Mtolo said.
Didiza’s spokesperson, Reggie Ngcobo, said that a new board would be announced “soon”.
“We are finalising with relevant stakeholders involved on the appointment of the board and will soon announce the new board,” Ngcobo said.