Ingonyama Trust leasing went on for far too long, says expert

The recent Pietermaritzburg High Court ruling that the Ingonyama Trust must repay monies paid by residents who leased land from it, could unravel the entire Convention for a Democratic SA (Codesa) deal which gave the Zulu king the sole ownership of land in the province at the expense of people.

The ruling could further rekindle the tension between government and the Zulu kingdom which felt strongly about its land control, especially under the late King Goodwill Zwelithini.

However, his son, King Misuzulu, who is known to prefer more conciliatory approach on issues, was likely to negotiate the matter with the government.

ALSO READ: Victory for rural women over KZN’s Ingonyama Trust

Independent researcher on politics and culture, Professor Nomboniso Gasa, said government had failed the people, for it should have stopped the Ingonyama Trust in the first place from leasing the land that people should own in the first place.

She said the ruling was a groundbreaking development for women’s rights because the Ingonyama Trust Act discriminated against women.

Gasa said the ruling would help to address the whole issue of gender discrimination in land ownership.

“The Ingonyama Act was unconstitutional, it shouldn’t have been passed because it robbed people of their right to their ancestral land. This raises questions about communal land rights in our country for the people living there,” said Gasa.

In a judgment on Friday, the high court declared the Ingonyama Trust acted unlawfully and in violation of the constitution by making people sign residential leases when, in fact, the residents were the true owners of the land in terms of Zulu customary law.

The court ruled that the trust must pay back all the money paid by the people leasing the land.

Most of the victims were women who were arbitrarily evicted from their land by traditional leaders.

Nine women represented by the Legal Resources Centre challenged discriminatory lease in court late last year on the basis it discriminated against them merely for being women.

The Ingonyama Trust Act was passed as a sequel to a compromise reached at Codesa so as to please the Inkatha Freedom Party, which threatened to boycott the 1994 elections.

– ericn@citizen.co.za