The Zulu royal family, which controls vast tracts of land in KwaZulu-Natal via the Ingonyama Trust, slammed a presidential expert advisory panel’s report on land reform, saying it was nothing but a kangaroo court with an axe to grind against the Zulus.
On Sunday the panel, appointed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2018, issued about a 140-page report recommending that, among other things, the trust be dissolved and the legislation governing it be repealed or reviewed.
The recommendation is a political hot potato for Ramaphosa, who does not want to antagonise Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini as he wields substantial influence over voters in the province where the ANC won the 2019 provincial election with a reduced majority.
The report is not binding on the government.
"To us this panel is nothing but a kangaroo court," said Ingonyama Trust board chair, judge Sipho Ngwenya. "The manner in which this report was issued was geared towards using media and other so-called ‘analysts’ to attack the trust and what it stands for. We will defend this land no matter who says what."
Speaking from London on Monday, Prince Thulani Zulu, spokesperson for the Zulu king, said the king had not been consulted before, during or after the report was compiled.
The Zulu king and his close aides are in England to commemorate the 140th anniversary of the battles of Isandlwana and Rorke’s Drift, in which the British lost to Zulu warriors.
Ngwenya said that at least one of the compilers of the latest report was part of the Motlanthe "witch-hunt", referring to a call for a review of the trust from another panel led by former president Kgalema Motlanthe.
The Ingonyama Act, which was passed hastily on the eve of the 1994 elections to secure the involvement of the IFP in the country’s first democratic election, gives effect to the trust, which manages and owns about 29.67% of mostly rural land in the province the size of Hungary in central Europe.
In 2018, the king, who is the sole trustee of the trust, threatened war and violence when the Motlanthe-led panel issued its report. The king also went as far as calling for a Zulu secession from SA should the government insist on repealing the act and expropriate land under it.
Ngwenya said if the authors were genuine in their work, they would have held adequate consultation with all stakeholders including the trust’s board and the Zulu royal family, to "ask them about their views on how these matters could
be resolved".
The panel’s chair, Dr Vuyo Mahlati, defended the report, saying there were many instances of lack of accountability regarding the finances of the trust and the top-down imposition of a lease system on land already owned by the people.
Land rights activists welcomed the report. Sizani Ngubane, director of the Rural Women Network, described the report as "a breath of fresh air".
"We are saying amandla (power) to this report," she said.
"We have been campaigning that people living in rural areas, especially women, should have the right to determine their
own destinies.
"The Ingonyama Trust and traditional leaders have been abusing people just because they happen to live in land administered by them.
"The government must implement these recommendations with immediate effect," said Ngubane.
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