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Agrarian Reform Minister Thoko Didiza has appointed a forensic investigation into the finances of the Ingonyama Board Trust (ITB) and allegations that its president, Jerome Ngwenya, used the public entity to enrich himself.
Didiza notified Ngwenya of the ITB’s forensic audit and financial misconduct investigation against her last month, after several complaints were filed with her ministry for alleged financial misconduct at the ITB, which manages nearly 3 million. hectares of land in KwaZulu-Natal. on behalf of King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu.
However, Ngwenya has refused to accept Didiza’s authority to designate the investigation, arguing that he is responsible to the monarch and not to her.
The complaints are understood to be related to the alleged payment of bribes to amakhosi in the province; the refusal to finance the traditional authorities with the income it obtains from the communities under its control and the alleged interference in the installation of an Inkosi.
Ngwenya has also been charged with employing an unqualified CEO and using the entity to enrich himself.
Ngwenya is the monarch’s ITB candidate, whose term was extended for six months by Didiza after it expired earlier this year. He has held the position since 2008.
The ITB receives around R22 million a year from the department, but earns around R90 million in income from commercial and residential leases and mining rights. His residential rental program is being challenged by a group of ITB land residents, backed by various NGOs, in Pietermaritzburg’s high court next month.
Ngwenya has come under fire in Parliament for the ITB’s financial management and its failure to allocate the funds it collects from leases and mining rights to the communities under its control, after receiving a series of unfavorable audit results from the ITB. auditor general.
However, Ngwenya has not accepted Didiza’s decision to exercise control over the ITB, telling her that she is accountable to the monarch, who appointed him, and not to her as land reform minister.
In a five-page reply to your email informing you of the forensic investigation and audit, that Mail and tutor As you have seen, Ngwenya threatened Didiza with legal action in case she did not comply with his “procedural preferences” on the matter.
“Since (in) matters like this, the courts sometimes have the last word, let me inform the minister that my preference is that the procedural requirements should be resolved as soon as possible,” Ngwenya said.
The former judge – Ngwenya was censured for using the title last month by Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng as he had resigned, rather than withdrawing from the court – said Didiza did not have the authority to take action against him.
“I am the nominee of the ingonyama (Iisilo). In my respectful opinion, any complaint about me should be addressed first and foremost by him. You can deal with the matter in whatever way you see fit, ” Ngwenya said. “You can even withdraw your nomination. You don’t even need to give reasons for your decision. “
Ngwenya said that following this process was a “prerequisite” and that any other process initiated by her would result in a “collision” between the two.
Ngwenya said the accusations against him do not amount to financial misconduct.
“In my opinion, the investigation to which the minister refers lacks the necessary legal basis. So it is not a start, ”said Ngwenya.
Ngwenya attempted to throw his fellow board members under the bus with the claim that any act of financial wrongdoing on the part of the board was done by the board as a whole, and not by him as an individual.
“The entire board would have been charged if there were sufficient grounds for financial misconduct,” Ngwenya said. “The minister does not explain why I am isolated from the board.”
Ngwenya said that the funds raised by the ITB were disbursed at the behest of the monarch and were not subject to the authority of the Public Finance Management Act. As a result, Didiza was unable to charge any financial misconduct charges for the use of these funds.
Turning to the content of the complaints against him, Ngwenya said that they did not constitute financial misconduct. He said the claim that he had gotten rich through the ITB “remains vague at this stage, but does not justify any charges of financial misconduct.”
Ngwenya has broad business interests, some of which do business with the ITB.
One of his companies, Zwelibanzi Utilities, has a service station, Adams Mission Service Station, on land rented from the ITB. According to ITB’s annual report for 2017-2018, Ngwenya owed R280,000 in unpaid rents for the property, which it had occupied since 2015. The property’s annual rent, R67,000, has not been paid since Zwelibanzi signed a rental contract. short term lease. , which was converted to a long-term lease despite not making annual payments.
It is unclear if this has been addressed now, as the annual report for 2018-2019 has been delayed. Ngwenya is also a director of Zululand Anthracite Collieries, which mines coal on ITB land, and Bayede, a company that distributes wine.
Ngwenya said allegations of bribery of certain “kings” could, at face value, amount to financial misconduct, but that this would depend on whether the funds allocated by the state or those collected by the ITB were used.
Ngwenya said the matter should not be investigated by Didiza, but rather by the South African Police Service and the Ministry of Cooperative Governance. The amakhosi who had received the payments would also have to be criminally charged.
Didza’s spokesperson, Reggie Ngcobo, promised to comment, but had not done so at the time of writing.
Ngwenya did not respond to emails and calls from M&G.
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