- Acting CEO Siyamdumisa Vilakazi says a new plan will ensure money actually develops communities instead of just being spent.
- Traditional leaders have complained for years that they cannot access funds for basic things like university fees because of red tape.
The Ingonyama Trust Board has admitted that for three decades it failed to use its money to properly help rural communities.
Now, the board says things are going to change.
Acting CEO Siyamdumisa Vilakazi announced a new plan to stop using funds for “consumption” and start using them for real development.
Speaking at a forum in Durban, Vilakazi said the Finance Commission realised they had been doing it wrong for 30 years.
“We understood that we have just been using money for consumption and now we need to change our way of thinking,” Vilakazi said.
He says the money generated by the Trust must go back to the clans to build their villages.
“We are clear who our beneficiaries are and that’s who we are working for,” he added.
For years, traditional leaders have complained that the Trust sits on billions of rands while their communities suffer.
Chiefs say they were forced to draft complicated business plans just to get help. Many gave up, leaving young people without funding for university and villages without basic services.
Parliament has also criticised the Trust in the past. MPs accused the board of failing rural people during the Covid-19 pandemic despite making billions in revenue every year.
The new resolution was taken at the three-day strategic forum at the Durban ICC.
Pictured above: Ingonyama Trust Board Acting CEO Siyamdumisa Vilakazi.
Image source: Ingonyama Trust Board
