The Ingonyama Trust Board has accused Land Reform Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso of dishonesty and unprofessional conduct after a recording emerged in which he called the board “rogue”.
The board said Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso’s conduct was beneath the office he holds.
It spoke out after a recording, believed to feature the minister speaking to King Misuzulu kaZwelithini and other traditional leaders, emerged. In it, the minister accused the board of being a rogue institution.
Relations between the board, on the one hand, and the minister and King Misuzulu, on the other, are at their lowest ebb. The King has accused the board of disrespecting and undermining him.
In the recording, the minister accuses the board of being rogue and disrespecting the King. He says the board wrote to him asking him not to brief the King about a forensic investigation into the board’s affairs.
He accused board members of being “politicians” and vowed never to work with the board — “over my dead body”. He also called for the board to be filled with people who respected the King.
The recording appears to reflect the extent to which relations between the board and the minister have deteriorated.
In a rebuttal, Siyamdumisa Vilakazi, the acting chief executive officer of the Ingonyama Trust, pushed back against the minister, accusing him of making false allegations, displaying juvenile behaviour and demeaning his office.
Vilakazi took issue with the minister’s statement that he works with the board.
“The minister says he will never work with this board — ‘over my dead body’. The law does not ask for the minister’s body. It asks for reasons and a fair process. In more than two years, he has produced neither.
“It is rich to be called politicians by the president of a political party. None of the board’s members holds political office or a party position. The Act itself excludes people who hold political office or have a high political profile from serving on the board.”
Vilakazi said the minister’s conduct was beneath his office.
“Made-up quotes. Name-calling. Threats to ‘fight’ officials. Findings announced before the investigation is finished. Incorrect facts about the board he oversees. Seven months without filing answering papers in court.
“This is unprofessional conduct, and it is beneath the office the minister holds. We trust that those to whom he is accountable are listening to the same recording. The Ingonyama Trust is a creature of statute. It does not answer to tantrums, and it will not be bullied,” he said.
The board said it was the minister who was acting outside the law, arguing that a rogue actor operates outside the law.
It said: “When the minister tried to remove four members of the board in March, the board went to court. On 25 March 2026, the High Court stayed his decision and interdicted unlawful and unreasonable interference with the board’s functions. The board is not under a court interdict. The minister is.”
The board argued that it had not tried to block the release of the forensic investigation. Instead, it said it had called for the investigation to include the conduct of the previous board, arguing that this demonstrated it had nothing to hide.
It further argued that the report, as commissioned, would be unfair to the board because its members had not been interviewed by the investigators.
Vilakazi said that, while the minister’s recording was circulating, the Trust met with the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Finance and the head of department to discuss financial-literacy support for amakhosi, their councils and their communities.
“That is our work, and we will keep doing it. We will challenge every unlawful step in the one place where volume counts for nothing: a court,” he said.
The minister’s office said it would respond after carefully studying the statement.
Political expert Professor Musa Xulu said relations between the minister and the board were extremely poor. “Ever since he came, he has been threatening to remove the board. His reasons have been limited to not liking certain individuals there. Recently, he threatened in public to remove the acting CEO, seemingly because he does not like him. This is not good governance at all.”