King Misuzulu ka Zwelithini
The Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB), which controls nearly three million hectares of KwaZulu-Natal on behalf of King Misuzulu ka Zwelithini, has a new chairperson, according to an internal memo.
Inkosi Thanduyise Mzimela has been appointed by the monarch as his nominee to replace Jerome Ngwenya, who served as the ITB chairperson for almost two decades.
Mzimela is the son of the late deputy chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal house of traditional leaders, Inkosi Mpiyezintombi Mzimela, and is understood to be a staunch supporter of the current Zulu king.
The new ITB chairperson was appointed as inkosi of the Mzimela traditional authority at Obanjeni near Mtunzini in Zululand in 2015.
The appointment of the new ITB chairperson clears the way for Land Reform, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Thoko Didiza to appoint a new board at the entity, which has been operating with an interim board since 2019.
The king had earlier nominated mining entrepreneur Jacob Mnisi as Ngwenya’s replacement, but he declined because of a tribal backlash over the appointment, further delaying the process of appointing the new board.
Didiza had already chosen the rest of the board’s members in conjunction with KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube, the house of traditional leaders, the provincial cooperative governance and traditional affairs ministry and the monarch.
In an internal memorandum to staff at the ITB on Wednesday, its chief executive Vela Mngwengwe confirmed that Mzimela, who comes from Obanjeni in the Umlalazi municipality, was the new chairperson of the board.
The ITB was set up to run the affairs of the Ingonyama Trust, which administers all traditionally controlled land in the province on behalf of the Zulu monarchy during the transition to democracy.
It collects revenue from commercial leases, mining rights and other royalties from companies making use of land it controls and is meant to disburse these funds to benefit people and traditional councils on whose land they operate.
The body has been dogged by controversy in recent years over its residential lease agreement, which was set aside by the courts, and has been at loggerheads with the Auditor General of South Africa and parliament’s land reform portfolio committee over a series of negative audit outcomes.
It receives R22 million a year from Didiza’s department, but also makes use of funds from the revenue it collects to make up an annual shortfall on its salaries and operations bill due to underfunding by the department.
Earlier this year the king ordered Ngwenya to publicly account for a questionable R41 million investment made by the ITB’s investment wing, Ingonyama Holdings, which was exposed by the Mail & Guardian.
The monarch said at the time that he wanted to ensure that the workings of the ITB were transparent and that ethical leadership by people entrusted with public positions became a norm in KwaZulu-Natal.