As emotions run high at the proposed scrapping of the Ingonyama Trust Act, traditional leaders and some political parties have called for the government to keep its hands off the Trust.
The National Religious Freedom Party (NRFP) Lower South Coast region has vowed to stop the government from dissolving the Trust, a matter currently under review in parliament.
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On Monday this week, members of the NRFP took to the streets of Port Shepstone saying traditional leaders were ‘under attack’ with attempts being made to diminish their role in communities.
This follows a proposal by a high-level panel, chaired by former president Kgalema Motlanthe, that the Ingonyama Trust Act be repealed.
The proposal reportedly angered Zulu monarch King Goodwill Zwelithini, traditional leaders and politicians, as if the proposal is adopted, some three million hectares of land under the Trust would be transferred to the state for redistribution.
The Ingonyama Trust Act was passed by IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi just before the 1994 government amalgamation with the Zululand government.
A trust board was formed to govern traditional land in KwaZulu-Natal on behalf of the Zulu king.
NRFP leader, Wilson Ngcobo told the Herald that the Trust was an inheritance from their forefathers and that they were willing to join those willing to fight for it.
Mr Ngcobo pointed out that traditional land governed by Amakhosi was the only place where they could sow crops where they wished and could bury their loved ones on their own land.
“As Africans, we are happy to have our land governed by our traditional leaders. If you take away the Act, you take away their rights,” he said.
Mr Ngcobo stressed that government needed to respect Amakhosi because unlike politicians, they were not elected, but were born kings.
The party also warned people not to speak ill of ‘Isilo samabandla’ (the king) as this was against Zulu beliefs.
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