By Celani Sikhakhane
- King Misuzulu has tasked Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi with leading efforts to prevent Ithala Bank’s liquidation.
- The bank’s collapse could cost traditional leaders R34-million, prompting widespread support to keep it running.
King Misuzulu kaZwelithini has roped in the fired traditional prime minister, Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi, to save the Ithala Bank from liquidation.
The announcement was made on Saturday by Buthelezi after a meeting with the Zulu King.
The King’s intervention comes after he announced on 22 January in Nquthu that he will be able to reveal his stance on the Ithala Bank at the official opening of the KZN Legislature on 27 February in Pietermaritzburg.
Ithala is facing insolvency after the Prudential Authority suggested that it should be liquidated.
The biggest fear of His Majesty is that if the Ithala Bank is liquidated, traditional leaders are set to lose around R34-million that is kept at the Bank, comprising levies collected from rural communities.
“I have been instructed by His Majesty the King to lead a delegation of senior royal family members and traditional leaders to support Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli in his government effort to save Ithala,” said Buthelezi.
He said that the King has tasked him and his delegation of senior royal members and amakhosi to engage with government to explain the unique role of Ithala in sustaining the livelihoods of rural communities that are subjects of the King.
Ithala Bank was founded in 1984 by the late prime minister to the Zulu monarch Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, whom along with the first black bishop of the Anglican Church in Southern Africa, Alpheus Zulu revived in 1975 the.Inkatha yeNkululeko yeSizwe the predecessor of the present IFP.
The banking division was founded to help black communities who were not catered for by major banks during apartheid.
The fight to save the Ithala Bank, which is a public entity of the KZN Department of Economic Development and Environmental Affairs, has been joined by many sectors including political parties who vow to keep it alive to continue providing services to its 270,000 clients.
Pictured above: Fired prime minister Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi has been asked by the Zulu King to save Ithala Bank.
Source: Supplied