Land Reform Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso has dissolved the Ingonyama Trust Board after resignations left it without the quorum required to govern the trust.

• Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso has dissolved the Ingonyama Trust Board after resignations left it without a quorum.
• The board manages 2.8 million hectares in KwaZulu-Natal for traditional communities, but governance issues and legal challenges have arisen over land rights and leases.
• An administrator will temporarily oversee operations, with plans to reconstitute the board in accordance with due process and legal requirements.

Land Reform and Rural Development Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso has dissolved the Ingonyama Trust Board.

In a statement on Wednesday, Nyhontso said he dissolved the board after several of its members resigned, leaving it with only four members.

“… The present circumstances have created a governance position that is no longer sustainable for the effective administration of the trust,” read the statement.

Nyhontso said he had decided after consulting with AmaZulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini and KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli.

The board is responsible for administering approximately 2.8 million hectares of land in KwaZulu-Natal.

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It manages the land belonging to the Ingonyama Trust for the benefit, material welfare, and social well-being of the members of specific traditional communities residing on it.

The Zulu king serves as the sole trustee, while the board manages the land in consultation with traditional leaders.

Most of the land under the trust is held under customary tenure.

The board administers permissions and leases for residential, agricultural, and commercial uses, with revenues intended for community benefit. It has been a focus of debate and litigation, particularly over converting customary rights into leases and charging rentals, with a 2021 High Court ruling curbing these practices.

READ | Court dismissed Ingonyama Trust appeal, orders it to refund residents

Those who support it said it safeguarded communal tenure and cultural authority, while critics argued it could weaken individual land rights and slow rural development.

Nyhontso stated that the administrative regulations issued under the KwaZulu-Natal Ingonyama Trust Act provided that five members of the accounting authority constituted a quorum for a board meeting. This means the board no longer met the quorum.

The statement read:

Nyhontso said he would appoint an administrator to oversee the day-to-day operational administration of the trust in terms of Section 49(3) of the Public Finance Management Act.

“It is directed at maintaining operational continuity and administrative stability. And the other memberships will be dealt with through due process.

“The process to reconstitute the board will proceed in accordance with the provisions of the act and the applicable consultation requirements,” he added.

Nyhontso said more details on the implementation of the transitional administrative arrangement and the process to reconstitute the board would be communicated in due course.