Farming plans cause division among Zulu royals
A PLAN for the state to lease farms to members of the Zulu royal family to generate revenue has been criticised by de facto King Misuzulu kazwelithini, who labelled it hypocrisy on the part of the government.
A proposal was made by the Zulu Royal Trust, which manages the royal budget, that it should venture into commercial farming as its fund-raising and revenue-generating strategy.
In a report written by Sipho Buthelezi, chief financial officer of the Kwazulu-natal Zulu Royal House Trust, to the chairperson of the board of trustees, it was stated that two farms in the north of the province had been identified to be used for commercial farming to generate revenue for the trust.
The report comes after the trust had a meeting with the Office of the Premier and the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.
Over the years, the trust has survived on the R66 million annual budget allocated to it by the KZN provincial government. The budget is used to maintain the late king Zwelithini’s palaces and for the upkeep of the queens and royal events.
However, the KZN government stopped the trust from supporting royal events owing to the unresolved dispute over the kingship.
The late king’s estate has not been executed due to a pending dispute over the will, which is currently before the Pietermaritzburg High Court.
According to the report by the trust, Prince Mbonisi, who has disputed Misuzulu’s kingship, stood to benefit from the project as one of the farms had been linked to his name.
He was due to sign a 30-year lease agreement with the department this month, according to the report.
Another farm was going to be leased to the late king Zwelithini.
King Misuzulu’s spokesperson, Prince Afrika, said the king (Misuzulu) was surprised and shocked to learn that the royal trust had been having meetings discussing finances while the government had frozen the account pending the court case.
He said the king was not aware of any financial affairs of the trust and had not been called to be part of the meetings.
“It is sad to the Zulu nation that issues relating to the royal finances are being discussed by certain individuals without the king.
“We view this as hypocrisy by the government because, as far as we know, everything was halted until all the disputes were finalised.
“It is a king’s prerogative to choose his staff to work for the trust. Why are government officials holding meetings with the selected few without the king while all the finances have been frozen?
“Maybe we need an investigation on what the trust has been up to since the demise of His Majesty,” he said.
Prince Afrika also questioned how Prince Mbonisi was a beneficiary of the project while he served as a board member and an employee of the state.
He criticised the government for being “selective” when addressing the royal finances.
“The king has never been paid by the state. He survived through donations and his money. There is litigation within the royal family, so this development makes us wonder if the royal trust funds are being used to oppose the king in court,” said Afrika.
The trust requested that the department assist with the identification of other potential commercial farms or the availability of land in the department’s database that could be leased to the trust for the purposes of commercial farming.
Reggie Ngcobo, spokesperson for the department, confirmed the report, but said no decision had been made by the department in terms of support.
He said the department was still investigating the processes.
“We are still investigating what was discussed. We will then state what will be the next action,” he said.
Lennox Mabaso, spokesperson for the KZN premier, said land reform issues, including leasing or allocation of land programmes, were the functions of the national executive authority (Cabinet minister), not the province. He said such matters must be directed to the national department.
“It must be noted that the premier is responsible for intergovernmental relations in KZN. Therefore, it always gets approached to facilitate interactions between other spheres of government. This is initiated by national
departments who want to interact with provincial institutions.
“We note that this role is deliberately misrepresented and misinterpreted by members of the legislature who sit in the portfolio committee and have an abundance of opportunity to interrogate matters,“he said.
Attempts to obtain comment from Prince Mbonisi were unsuccessful at the time of publication.