AmaZulu King MisuZulu kaZwelithini is exposing himself to wolves who want to capture him and steal the land belonging to the Ingonyama Trust.
This is the view of Indonsa Yesizwe, a group of academics, cultural experts and staunch supporters of AmaZulu monarch, which owns the Ingonyama Trust.
Indonsa Yesizwe was speaking to Sunday World last week amid the raging chaos between the IFP and the ANC, who are all vying to ingratiate themselves with the AmaZulu monarchy ahead of general elections in 2024..
Chairperson of the group professor Musa Xulu said the king’s ally, ANC-linked Mpumalanga businessman Jacob Mnisi, is a key mover seeking to divide the AmaZulu nation and amass mineral wealth on ancestral land controlled by the trust for his and the benefit of the governing party’s cronies.
“There are attempts to capture the king. Lately, Isilo [King MisuZulu] has become inaccessible,” Xulu said.
“What makes him more vulnerable is that the king doesn’t have his own palace and sometimes stays in the homes and hotels owned by these unscrupulous business people.”
The group said these politically connected businessmen are also doing spade work to get the king to endorse the ANC ahead of the elections.
In his defence, Mnisi labelled Xulu as being “confused”, denying that he is the agent of the governing party.
He said his ties with the royal family is not political, explaining that their relationship started under the late King Goodwill Zwelithini kaBhekuzulu when they discussed ways to monetize property and mineral wealth under the Ingonyama Trust.
Mnisi added that he registered a company in 2020 for that purpose. The project, he said, was to be done in the model of the Royal Bafokeng tribe in Rustenburg, North West.
He further said the former head of the trust did not have the experience to commercialize AmaZulu assets.
“Remember the trust has over 2.8-million hectares of land. But they did not farm to enrich themselves or mine to benefit and fight poverty and inequality around KwaZulu-Natal,” Mnisi said.
Though the land was owned by the trust, he said, the minerals were in state custody and those who wanted to benefit from it needed to obtain mining licences and permission from the Department of Mineral Resources.
“They cannot have such high unemployment rate in South Africa with such extensive land,” he added, noting that he runs bona-fide mining operations.
The political contestation between the ANC and IFP over the king’s endorsement saw the IFP using the king’s image in its manifesto leading up to the 2021 local government elections.
The party was forced to take down the picture because the king is an apolitical figure. He himself threatened legal action over the poster that read: “We partner with traditional leaders.”
In May, a delegation from the ANC, led by the governing party’s secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, presented 10 cows to the king. The gesture was interpreted as an attempt to “buy” King MisuZulu to influence his subjects to vote for the ANC.
A senior IFP leader told Sunday World that the party is concerned about the perception that Prince Mangosutho Buthelezi and the king are not singing from the same hymn book.
“The IFP has been on an upward trajectory and this distance between umntwana [Prince Buthelezi and the king] will affect us in the elections and divide voters,” said the party leader.
Buthelezi told key members of the royal family at a meeting on Friday, which the king did not attend, that the Ingonyama Trust is not the monarch’s property.
He said the king is not the landowner but holds the property on behalf of his subjects for their own welfare.
Buthelezi also spoke of a syndicate of illegal miners who have tried to infiltrate the Ingonyama Trust Board.
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