Durban — A high-powered delegation led by the newly appointed Land Reform and Rural Development Minister, Mzwanele Nyhontso, will meet King Misuzulu kaZwelithini on Monday.
The meeting will take place at King Misuzulu’s KwaKhangelamankengane Royal Palace in Nongoma, in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
Topping the agenda of this crucial meeting is the contentious issue of the Ingonyama Trust Board, of which King Misuzulu is the sole trustee by virtue of being the king. The minister will be accompanied by his aides and department officials, his office confirmed.
In his capacity as the traditional prime minister of the Zulu monarch, Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi confirmed the meeting.
“The meeting will cover an array of topics, including the king’s unhappiness with the board of the Ingonyama Trust (appointed by the former minister Thoko Didiza),” he said.
Buthelezi is also the MEC for Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs in KZN, appointed by IFP Premier Thami Ntuli in June.
The meeting would also allow King Misuzulu to discuss his vision for the Ingonyama Trust Board, which controls more than 2.8 million hectares of communal land in KZN. By leasing land, the board generates more than R100 million in revenue annually.
In May, King Misuzulu called a meeting with traditional leaders at the old KwaZulu-Natal legislature in uLundi.
During this meeting, he criticised the government for allegedly wanting to wrestle the control of the Ingonyama Trust Board from his grip.
The government, which appoints the board through the land reform and development affairs, denied this allegation, leading to a meeting between the king and the erstwhile minister of land reform and rural development, Thoko Didiza, to ease the growing tensions.
Didiza is now the Speaker of the National Assembly.
During the same meeting, the king told traditional leaders that the board, with which he has been locked in a feud since early this year, did not heed his instructions as its chairperson.
“We don’t get along with the board. They refuse to listen to me. They want me out. I don’t understand why this is the case because I am the beneficiary of the Ingonyama Trust, and the amakhosi are secondary beneficiaries,” the king was quoted as saying at the time.
King Misuzulu and Nyhontso, who was appointed as minister under the Government of National Unity (GNU), are expected to address the public after the meeting.
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