The king and the KZN land: What now?
A new king must be appointed before the new Ingonyama Trust Board can be named
The process of appointing a new Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) — and either confirming former judge Jerome Ngwenya as the royal nominee or replacing him — can be concluded only after the new Zulu monarch assumes the throne.
The ITB leadership paid their respects to the entity’s sole trustee, the late King Goodwill Zwelithini kabhekuzulu, at the Kwakhethomthandayo royal palace in Nongoma on Tuesday.
The monarch, the sole trustee of the Ingonyama Trust, which controls about three million hectares of rural and peri-urban land in Kwazulu-natal on his behalf, died on Friday 12 March from Covid-19 complications.
He was buried at a secret place just after midnight on Wednesday and the memorial service took place yesterday morning.
All of the ITB’S interim board members — including chairperson Ngwenya, who has served as the monarch’s nominee for more than a decade — participated in the visit.
They were accompanied by Land Reform and Agricultural Development Minister Thoko Didiza, under whose department the ITB falls.
The ITB administers the tribally controlled land that falls under the Ingonyama Trust, which was set up on the eve of the 1994 elections to secure the participation of the monarch and the Inkatha Freedom Party (then known as Inkatha), who had threatened to boycott the process.
Reggie Ngcobo, Didiza’s spokesperson, said the visit would allow the minister and the interim board members to convey their condolences to the Zulu royal family.
A lack of precedent around the effect of the monarch’s death on the ITB — he ascended to the throne in 1971, three years after the death of his father, King Cyprian kadinuzulu, in 1968 — has created concerns about the future of the body. The monarch, together with the IFP and most of Kwazulu-natal’s traditional leaders, had strongly opposed recommendations that the body be reformed or dissolved. These recommendations were contained in the reports of two government panels appointed to investigate its effect on the rights — and lives — of the people living on land under ITB control.
President Cyril Ramaphosa had reassured the monarch that the Ingonyama Trust was not under threat shortly after he became ANC president in December 2017, but the body has developed a fractious relationship with parliament and the auditor general over its financial management.
Last year Didiza appointed a forensic audit of the ITB’S finances, and put in place an interim board, because the serving board had outlived its tenure. Ngwenya, as the monarch’s nominee, continues to serve.
Didiza has also seconded staff from land reform to assist with getting the ITB’S finances in order while the process appointing a permanent board continues.
In terms of the legislation governing the ITB operation, the board members need to meet with the approval of the monarch, whose nominee becomes the chairperson.
It is not clear as yet what effect the death of the monarch will have on this process.
A lack of a succession plan within the Zulu monarchy — traditionally no heir to the throne is named while a sitting king is alive — means that the new king can only be named only after the incumbent has been buried and a cleansing ceremony has been performed.
This means that the process of appointing a new board — and either confirming Ngwenya as the royal nominee or replacing him — can only be concluded only after the new monarch assumes the throne.
Ngcobo declined to comment on the process, saying that it would not be appropriate to do so at this time. Ngwenya said he was “unable to engage in any discussion about the subject”, but confirmed that whoever became king would be the new trustee.
Ngwenya said he was “optimistic” that, by today, “the nation will be better enlightened”.