More than R100m will be required over the next three years to set in motion the Agriculture, Land Reform & Rural Development Department’s plan to implement the ruling of the KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) regarding lease agreements being enforced by the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB).

An amount of R39m will be forked out in the 2021/22 financial year, followed by R39.4m in 2022/23 and then R39.5m in 2023/24, bringing the total to R118m for the project.

The money will go towards establishing structures to administer ITB land-related matters and other tribal land matters across KZN.

The Mercury reports the plan – contained in a 29-page report – was presented to the KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) two weeks ago.

In June, the court found that the Ingonyama Trust’s residential lease programme was unlawful and called on the trust to repay the money it had charged tenants on trust-owned land from 2012.

The lease programme had been developed to replace the Permission to Occupy rights which had previously been applied on the land that falls under the custodianship of the late Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini.

‘The implementation of the order will affect approximately 3m hectares under Ingonyama Trust and other tribal land outside Ingonyama Trust land, for example, Umzimkhulu Municipality,’ read the report.

Full report in The Mercury