Trust lashed for ‘killing businesses’

THE Ingonyama Trust Board came in for heavy criticism during a community meeting in Durban yesterday.

A number of people vented their anger at the trust, accusing it of killing their businesses, burdening them with debt and causing serious tension.

They were addressing former deputy president Kgalema Motlanthe and members of a high-level panel during a meeting to address the question, “How have the laws of our democracy affected your life?”

The meeting was part of a series of hearings held in various provinces.

Many believed the country had good and adequate laws, but that implementation was poor. They tackled the Ingonyama Trust Act which governs the Ingonyama Trust Board.

Representatives of the trust dismissed the allegations and said it was a deliberate attempt to smear the trust, which manages close to 3 million hectares of land across the province.

“We know that the Ingonyama Trust Act was passed through last-minute in 1994 so that the land could not fall into the hands of the incoming government of the ANC,” said Edward Mpepho, a businessman from the South Coast.

“The act has some minor positive aspects. But in the main, it’s negative. In the hands of corrupt, incompetent leaders, the act can be misused and abused,” he said.

Mpepho said businesses had gone under and he had been a victim of the act.

Camp

Mpepho said he owned a B& B and “mini-camp”, which at one stage attracted people from across the country, and as far as Swaziland and Lesotho. But he claimed he was charged more than other businesses for rent.

“The Ingonyama Trust Act was used to evict me by increasing the amount of monies I paid. When that failed my place was vandalised.” He said he had lost close to R10 million.

“We need to find out what the monies paid over to Ingonyama Trust are doing; they need to declare their books.”

Approached for comment, the Ingonyama Trust Board chairman, Judge Jerome Ngwenya, said those who had evidence that the trust had wronged them or had put them out of business should come forward with the evidence.

“I cannot respond fully as I was not there (at the meeting). We know that some of the people who made the allegations were chosen strategically and are being pushed by others,” he said. He dismissed Mpepho’s claim that he had been a victim.

Bongani Zikhali of Jozini warned that the mistreatment being meted out by the Ingonyama Trust could start “a war”. He said he was paying R3 000 a year in taxes on his property, which increased by 10% every year. “If I fail to pay they will come and tell me to move?” he asked.

Mbhekiseni Mavuso said people in his community were angry because their rights regarding land were vested in the hands of one traditional leader in that area. “Developers do not even talk to the community – as long as they have spoken to the traditional leaders, they are done.”