Zwelithini slams ANC plan to dissolve land trust
Zulu monarch King Goodwill Zwelithini is headed for what could be a bruising battle with the ANC over the sensitive issue of rural land custodianship.
During its national conference in Johannesburg in December‚ the governing party resolved that traditional leaders should relinquish custodianship of land held in trust by the state.
“That land belongs to the people and we have resolved that 13% of the land under the custodianship of traditional leaders be transferred to the people who live in those communities‚” said deputy minister of traditional affairs and member of the ANC’s subcommittee on legislature and governance Obed Bapela.
The ANC’s resolution followed the November release of a report by a panel headed by
former president Kgalema Motlanthe. Among other things, the panel’s report recommended that the Ingonyama Trust Act be repealed or amended and that the Ingonyama Trust — of which Zwelithini is the sole trustee — be dissolved.
The trust‚ which administers 2.8-million hectares of land on behalf of Zwelithini‚ was established in 1994 to be the custodian of the land previously administered by the former KwaZulu-Natal government.
Delivering a speech during the commemoration of the Battle of Isandlwana in Nquthu‚ northern KwaZulu-Natal‚ at the weekend‚ Zwelithini issued a strong warning against any attempts to dissolve the Ingonyama Trust.
INGONYAMA TRUST
“I want to send a message once again to those who think that they can do whatever they like about our soul‚ which is our land‚ that we should not be provoked,” the king said.
“There is no need for Zulus to be abused for their inheritance.”
Zwelithini said land under the Ingonyama Trust “which we hear that we don’t deserve, was not a gift but a fraction of what was taken from us.
“This history makes us ask ourselves: what is the aim of the person who is brewing the war by saying that our land should be taken?” the monarch said.
“As Zulus, we’re asking ourselves why are we being hated‚” he said.
When President Jacob Zuma reopened land claims under the now repealed Restitution of Land Rights Amendment Act of 2014‚ Zwelithini and other traditional leaders lodged a multimillion-rand land claim that could be SA’s largest to date.
The claim went outside the boundaries of KwaZulu-Natal to the Eastern Cape‚ Free State and part of Mpumalanga.
Zwelithini has defended his blanket land claim.
“These people accused us of destabilising [development] trusts by claiming our land‚” he was quoted as saying during a speech to celebrate the traditional circumcision of 200 young men in Kokstad in 2015.
“This is shocking‚ because this land was not taken from the trusts‚ which are now popular in the country‚ but was taken from traditional leaders and your fathers and mothers who were murdered,” the monarch said.
DURBAN MEETING
Hundreds of amakhosi (traditional chiefs)‚ who live on land administered by the Ingonyama Trust are expected to gather at the International Convention Centre in Durban on Wednesday and Thursday to discuss their response to the panel’s report.
The meeting‚ which is endorsed by Zwelithini‚ is expected to overwhelmingly reject the panel’s recommendations that the trust be dissolved.