Parliament considers investigation into Ingonyama Holdings over R41 million loan from Ingonyama Trust Board

Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Land Reform and Rural Development has raised the possibility of calling in the Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) to probe Ingonyama Holdings (IH) over its failure to account for R41 million loaned to it by the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB).

The committee was briefed on Friday by the ITB about the matter. IH was set up in 2019 to be the official investment arm of the trust and was duly registered with the Companies and Intellectual Property Commission (CIPC).

At the time, the ITB was chaired by Jerome Ngwenya, who was also a director of IH.  

According to reports, IH was loaned money by the ITB in 2021, but to date, it has failed to account for what happened to the funds.

Committee chairperson Albert Mncwango stated that the IH directors’ refusal to account to the ITB amounted to obstruction of governance.

“The committee welcomed the recommendation from the ITB for the committee to consider initiating processes to subpoena the IH directors to appear before the committee and account for their actions,” he said.

He added that Parliament would “explore the route of requesting the President to sign a proclamation for the Hawks and the Special Investigating Unit to investigate the matter to deal with the issues. The fact that Mr Ngwenya could chair both the ITB and the IH created a conflict of interest and blurred the lines of accountability.”

The ITB told MPs that it lodged a complaint with the CIPC’s Fraud and Risk Unit, but no progress was reported.

In February 2025, the board escalated the matter by opening a fraud case with the South African Police Service, but it said no formal responses had been received.

At the centre of the dispute is the R41 million in seed funding awarded by the ITB to IH. The loan has not been returned, and ITB officials said recovery is unlikely.

Earlier this year, ITB acting chief executive officer Siyamdumisa Vilakazi confirmed at a media briefing in Pietermaritzburg that the trust had severed ties with its commercial arm.

He accused Ngwenya, a close ally of the late King Goodwill Zwelithini, of hijacking the entity.

Vilakazi said the holdings had “refused to pay back the R41 million.”

Committee members expressed concern that the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development had not intervened in the dispute, despite its oversight role.

The committee is now weighing whether to subpoena the IH directors and formally escalate the matter to the Hawks and SIU.

Ngwenya has previously declined to comment on the matter.

THE MERCURY