Former Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) chairperson Sipho Ngwenya has lost his bid to appeal a KZN High Court (Pietermaritzburg) ruling ordering him to repay R30m which he had instructed to be transferred from the Ingonyama Trust to his attorney’s trust account.

The court dismissed his application for leave to appeal, deeming his arguments for overturning the repayment order as stillborn and unjustified in law.

The R30m transfer to the trust account of his lawyer, Jafta Incorporated, was made after the Ingonyama Trust sold land in Hammarsdale to the eThekwini Municipality in June 2018.

Former ITB chief executive Vela Mngwengwe said Ngwenya lacked the authority to order this transfer and that Ngwenya failed to explain the whereabouts of the money when served with a letter of demand.

When taken to court, Ngwenya challenged the authority of Strauss Daly Incorporated to represent the ITB and Ingonyama Trust, demanding that the law firm satisfy rule 7(1) to prove its mandate.

Although Strauss Daly provided reasons to satisfy rule 7(1), Ngwenya argued that their response was noncompliant and that the matter should not have proceeded.

Crucially, says the Sunday Tribune, when the same court ordered him to file an answering affidavit regarding the rule 7 issue, he failed to comply.

Consequently, Advocate Credo Mlaba, acting for Strauss Daly, successfully obtained a court order striking out Ngwenya’s defence for his failure to file an affidavit explaining the transfer.

The court granted this order, instructing Ngwenya to repay the money within 30 days.

In dismissing the appeal, Judge Rajkumar Nirghin noted that Ngwenya failed to file an affidavit explaining the transfer of funds, opting instead to take technical points to avoid submitting his answering affidavit.

Dismissing the application, Nirghin said: ‘I am not convinced that a court of appeal could reasonably conclude differently from that of this court.’

Full Sunday Tribune report