R22m Ingonyama Trust Board funding withheld
Government withheld funding for the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) after the entity failed to submit its budget to the Department of Land Reform, Agriculture & Rural Development for the current financial year.
The submission of the ITB’s budget is understood to have been delayed by the de facto suspension of its top management – including chief executive Lucas Mkhwanazi and chief financial officer Amin Mia – on the orders of board chairperson Jerome Ngwenya in January, says a Mail & Guardian report.
The two were among five top executives placed on special leave in January by Ngwenya pending an investigation, the nature of which has not been made public.
A sixth executive, land and tenure management services head Thembeka Ndlovu, was placed on special leave last year. The ITB is funded by the department to the tune of around R22m annually. It administers around 3m hectares of land under the control of traditional authorities in KZN on behalf of King Goodwill Zwelithini, who is the sole trustee of the Ingonyama Trust.
The ITB is the subject of a High Court challenge by two NGOs and several residents of trust land who want its residential ease programme declared unlawful. The matter has been postponed due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
The delay in allocating the funding for ITB's operating costs was confirmed by Land Reform spokesperson Reggie Ngcobo, who said the R22m would be released once the necessary documentation had been forwarded to the department.
He said the department was ‘working closely’ with the troubled entity to ensure that it adhered to financial management procedures, notes the M&G report.
Tomorrow (Tuesday), the ITB, which has been under fire in Parliament over a series of negative audit outcomes from the Auditor-General, is scheduled to provide the Land Reform Portfolio Committee a breakdown of all funds it has allocated to communities and traditional authorities.
It has previously failed to meet deadlines set by the committee to submit the breakdown of these funds allocations.
Sources in the ITB reportedly told M&G that the six executives – several of whom are preparing to challenge their de facto suspension in the Labour Court – and other staff members had not been paid their salaries, but why this has happened is not clear.
Article disclaimer: While we have made every effort to ensure the accuracy of this article, it is not intended to provide final legal advice as facts and situations will differ from case to case, and therefore specific legal advice should be sought with a lawyer.
