Does Ingwenyama Trust Benefits All The People Who Reside in KwaZulu-Natal or Only the Few? (Opinion)

Ingonyama Trust is a corporate entity formed to administer the land traditionally owned by the Nation of AmaZulu. They are represented by the currently King, Zwelithini. The trust was established for the benefit of all AmaZulu, the material welfare and social well-being of the Zulu Nation who occupies the land as they historically have done. The Trust owns 29.67% of the land in the whole province of KwaZulu-Natal; it is equivalent to 28,000 square kilometers or 10, 811 square miles.

The board of Trust includes the Zulu King who is the chairperson and 8 members who are appointed by the Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform in National Government. But the Minister must first consult with the King himself, the premier of KwaZulu-Natal and the chairperson of KwaZulu-Natal House of traditional leaders. There way this Trust is organized, one can believe that all the people of KwaZulu-Natal are benefitting out of it. The truth of the matter is that not all of them.

Even though the whole land in KwaZulu-Natal does not fully belong to the Trust still the Trust is not reaching everyone according to its objectives. In KwaZulu-Natal the land is expensive as if you are buying it from a private person. In some cases the land that belongs to the Trust is being priced by certain an individual who claims that this particular land is their inheritance from their forefathers. These people they charge whatever price they deem is fit for them. After that you are required to go to the chief and pay the amount which is above R2 000. You pay for a piece of paper called khonza form (Reporting your existence).

You pay this money after buying the piece of land that cost you R12 000 or more but there is Ingonyama Trust which administer the very same land that did not benefit the buyer since he/she has paid for it. Worse part the perpetrators of the crime are not brought to book yet and they are continuing committing even more crimes. The findings of former President Kgalema Motlante about the Trust met lot of opposition from the handful of people of KwaZulu-Natal. These are the people who are real beneficiaries of the Trust not the masses.

Even the King did protested about it’s findings, the commission said the Trust was not benefitting the people of KwaZulu-Natal as it was meant for. Therefore the commission recommended that it's existence should be reviewed if possible the land be brought under government. To this far there has been no investigations from the Trust to verify the findings of Motlante’s commission. This simple means they can’t find out the truth from the people who are affected. If the King was serious about objecting the findings of the commission with facts he should have summoned his chiefs and find out how are they distributing land amongst his people. The victims on this case are the people whom the King is representing to the Trust not the chiefs and their allies.

At some stage most of the chiefs are not aware of this corruption because individuals who are assigned to the position of land distribution are the ones who masters this ongoing corruption. If the Trust wants to work with it’s official beneficiaries it must consult with ordinary people and hear from them how they want to benefit out of it. Currently masses are beneficiaries by the name not literally. The judge that is part of the Trust seems to be clueless about making this entity benefit people they way it suppose to benefit people. In short Ingonyama Trust benefit only the few not all KwaZulu-Natal resident.