The court has ruled that all leases are now invalid and that minister Thoko Didiza, who “breached her duties”, reinstate the PTO policy and report back to the court every three months on progress.
The High Court in Pietermaritzburg ruled on Friday that the Ingonyama Trust’s literal rent-seeking policy of forcing people to sign leases to live on their ancestral land was unlawful and ordered the trust to pay back the money. It’s a victory for good governance and a blow against one of f.
They were threatened with “banishment” and told they were “turning against the king”. This was the evidence of how some people living on land belonging to the Ingonyama Trust were forced into signing lease agreements which were never properly explained to them.
The Ingonyama Trust has been ordered by the Pietermaritzburg high court to pay back the money it took from people living on trust land who it forced to sign leases.