A State within a State

Newspaper reports hold that Buthelezi has warned Ramaphosa off from meddling in Ingonyama Trust land.

Irrespective of the merits of the Zulu claim to this land, it must be said that the governance of that Trust of the area has left much to be desired.

Allowing development of agricultural land, which is not densified by the concentration of residences into villages, means that-

• the delivery of services and roads to residences is made very difficult and very expensive; and
• arguably, agricultural land may be lost to use owing to uncoordinated development.

Two other arguments which mitigate against the retention of the Zulu control to the land in question rather than ownership by the tenants, are-

• the loss of the ability of the tenant to leverage borrowings of that land; and
• the inability of heirs to step into the sheet’s shoes of their forebears as of right.

The Zulu kingdom, whatever one says, is an integral part of South Africa and there can be no justification for the independent governance of a sub- state reserved for a specific race group.