Lingering Injustice: Suspended Ingonyama Trust Board Staff Battle To Clear Names After Reinstatement

Uncertainty hangs heavy over five staff members of the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB), who still face unresolved charges despite being reinstated at the end of 2021, seven years after initial suspension.

Duncan Pakkies, Dockas Zondi, Lungile Sibiya, Nono Msani and Nompumelelo Ndlovu were suspended in August 2016 following allegations of insubordination, negligence, and falsification of information linked to commercial leases issued in 2015. Their suspension came after complaints from disgruntled commercial leaseholders at Mpophomeni, Howick, Ndwedwe, Mnini, Nongoma, and Pongola.

The group contends that the charges were fabricated, with the aim of rooting them out of the ITB—a reserve that manages approximately three million hectares of land in KwaZulu-Natal on behalf of the Zulu monarch.

Although they were reinstated in December 2021, the ITB has yet to formally withdraw the charges, compensate the group for their legal costs, and acknowledge their plight. The group has now sent a plea for intervention to the Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform, and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza.

Nono Msani also wrote a letter to the land reform portfolio committee chairperson Mandla Mandela, pushing for the parliamentary scrutiny of ITB management and the reform of its human resources policies.

Amidst this prolonged battle for justice, Pakkies, their elected representative, tragically passed in June, without any formal clearance.

The group's suspension originated under the tenure of then ITB chief executive officer Fikisiwe Madlopha, purportedly as part of a plot to replace them with officials loyal to Madlopha and the previous ITB chairperson Jerome Ngwenya.

When Madlopha left the ITB, Lucas Mkhwanazi took charge, only to be suspended by Ngwenya along with several other executives during 2019. After going to court, they won reinstatement; then, in 2021, Didiza appointed a new chief executive, Vela Mngwengwe, making the latest in a series of interventions.

During Mngwengwe's reign, the suspended staff members got reinstated in December 2021. However, the charges against them were not annulled, pushing them to fight on for clarity, fairness, and compensation.