Land Reform Department Told To Suspend R22m Payment To Ingonyama Trust Board

LUCAS LEDWABA

PARLIAMENT’S portfolio committee on agriculture, land reform and rural development has mooted that funding for the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) be withheld or suspended in a move that could further cripple the troubled organisation.

The ITB which has become unpopular in contemporary politics as it’s viewed as a relic of the hated homeland administration system, was established by the former KwaZulu homeland government on the eve of the historic 1994 first democratic election.

Its mandate is to administer land on behalf of Zulu monarch King Goodwill Zwelithini who is the sole trustee as part of the deal that led to the historic 27 April 1994 election.

In early May the ITB  which is the subject of a pending court case brought by the Council for the Advancement of the SA Constitution (Casac), the Rural Women’s Movement and seven informal land rights holders was grilled by the committee to