AmaZulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini has called for the independence of the Ingonyama Trust Board from the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development.
The King is the sole trustee of the Trust, which was established in 1994. The call was conveyed by Thulasizwe Buthelezi, the newly appointed Traditional Prime Minister to the AmaZulu nation.
The Ingonyama Trust administers close to three million hectares of land in KwaZulu-Natal.
The land was previously owned by the KwaZulu Government before 1994. Buthelezi says as the sole trustee of Ingonyama Trust, the AmaZulu King will do everything in his power to protect, preserve and develop the land for the benefit of his people.
In 2017, a high-level panel led by the country’s former President Kgalema Motlanthe recommended for the trust to be dissolved and for the laws that established it before 1994 to be repealed.
Buthelezi says the King has signed a memorandum of understanding with the National School of Government to train and upskill Amakhosi to better serve their communities.
“Are Amakhosi that illiterate and incapable of running their own affairs that they must still report to a minister sitting in Cape Town about their own land inherited from their forefathers? Why must the land of the Zulu people be administered in Cape Town when Amakhosi have their own governance structures which are closer to the people and recognized in law such as the provincial house of traditional leaders,” says Buthelezi.
Buthelezi replaced the late Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who was the longest prime minister of the AmaZulu, having served three kings. Buthelezi, who’s also a senior member of the IFP, says he will not use his new position to garner support for his party.
“I don’t think that people will be confused because the role I am playing now is the role which is serving his majesty and there’s no political influence or any political favours which will accrue to any political party out of this role,”
The King also expressed his concern about the spate of killings of traditional leaders in KwaZulu-Natal.
More than 50 headsmen and Amakhosi have been attacked and killed in the past four years in the province.
