The king suspended board members and executives during the December holidays and appointed a law firm to take over operations. (Rajesh Jantilal/Getty)
Parliament's Land Reform Portfolio Committee wants to meet with King Miszulu ka Zwelithini to resolve the 'crisis' caused by the breakdown of his relationship with the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) That's what I think.
The committee has also written to the Crown asking him to “refrain” from his attempts to suspend board members and executives, which he does not have the legal authority to do, until after a meeting later this month. I plan to.
The committee held an emergency meeting on Tuesday morning with Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Mzwanele Nihontso to discuss the latest developments in the board, of which the King is the sole director and chairperson.
The king suspended board members and executives during the December holidays and appointed law firm Van Rensburg Krueger Lakwena to take over its operations.
The Minister intervened to remind the King that he did not have the power to dismiss board members who were appointed and dismissed by ministerial prerogative, and that the appointment of a lawyer to take over the management of the board was illegal.
Lawyers nevertheless continued to issue instructions on behalf of the king, while the ITB was forced to close its offices last week in response to a planned march by the Amabut (regiment) in support of the king.
Relations between the Crown and the Board have soured over a number of issues, including the attempt to appoint a lawyer to represent ITB in the succession dispute to carry out an audit of its lands.
Stephen Lakwena, the king's lawyer, said last week that he had been appointed by the ITB to investigate the sale of the Umhlari farm on the king's instructions, and accused the king's leadership of obstructing the king.
ITB manages approximately 3 million hectares of land in KwaZulu-Natal under traditional authority on behalf of the Crown, who is the sole trustee of the Ingonyama Trust.
The entity is funded by Mr Nyohontso's department and is subject to the Public Finance Management Act.
It collects millions of rands each year from mines, commercial farms and other businesses operating on its land, which is intended to benefit the Crown, Amakhosi and the communities under their leadership. .
The board and executives were appointed by Nyohontso's predecessor Thoko Didiza as part of a program to regularize the ITB's finances and operations, which had repeatedly failed to account to parliament during the tenure of former chairman Jerome Ngwenya. .
Mr Njohontso told the committee that he had requested a meeting with the king when he returned from quarantine in Eswatini on January 15 “to resolve the matter once and for all”, but that his lawyers continued to “threat people”. , said it was causing “havoc.” At the ITB office in Peter Martysburg.
“While the Crown continues to write through these lawyers, we also state in our response that the appointment of lawyers is irregular as service providers are only appointed by the board and not by the chairperson alone. “There are,” Nyohontso said.
“They keep writing letters and threatening people not to come to work. They are searching everyone who comes to the office and creating havoc there,” he said.
The committee and minister said they wanted to avoid a public spat with the King “at all costs”, but also acknowledged that the King had acted beyond his authority by suspending directors and executives. , supports Nyohontso's intervention.
Mr. Nyohontso believes that the relationship between the king and the board has deteriorated to the point where they are no longer able to cooperate, and he is prepared to dissolve the board, but if there is no justifiable reason, he will not be able to do so without going through the proper procedures. said that it could not be done.
He said that at the time of the intervention, the board was preparing to take the Crown to court.
“For now, the board remains in place. If it is dissolved without proper reason, the court may reinstate them at our expense,” Nyohontso said. .
inquiry
He said he believed there should be a three- to five-month investigation into the breakdown and the allegations by both the board and the Crown to make recommendations.
Committee members expressed concern at the “speed at which the situation is developing” and ordered its chairman, Albert Mnkwango, to write to the king urging “restraint” until the end of the meeting.
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) MP Sam Mathias said the situation had reached a “crisis point” as the king “firmly believes he has the power to dissolve the board, but that is not true”. said.
“At the same time, we may not want to bring the monarchy into disrepute by engaging with him and his office through the media and contradicting him every time,” he said.
Mattiasse said contradicting the Crown was “to be avoided at all costs”, but that issues including allegations that Ngwenya was running a parallel ITB administration in Johannesburg from Saxonwold would be investigated and addressed. Said it was necessary.
Mnkwango said people should “avoid cross-purpose conversations with the king” ahead of the meeting as it could “jeopardize” the chance to secure an audience with the king to resolve the impasse. Ta.
Mnkwango said a law firm appointed by the king was stirring up tensions.
He described this as the “elephant in the room” and asked Mr Nyongtso to intervene as they were “completely unhelpful and are having a very worrying impact on the progress of this crisis”.
The meeting also agreed to request reports from all stakeholders within seven days and to review previous presentations and reports on the ITB ahead of a visit to KwaZulu-Natal later this month.
