The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) has refused to grant the Ingonyama Trust leave to appeal against a far-reaching ruling that it cannot collect rent from those who live on trust land.
The Ingonyama Trust has been found to have acted unlawfully and in violation of the constitution, by making rural community members sign leases for land that was rightfully theirs under Zulu customary law.
She said after being discharged from hospital, Thulani and his son went to check on Ngubane at her home after receiving no help. They found Ngubane’s decomposing body in the dining room of her home.
“What they found was something no child or grandchild should have to deal with. Their experience [was] a gross violation of their mother’s/grandmother’s dignity, and their own cultural norms about respect.
“Sizani Ngubane was a remarkable woman who has left a void in her brainchild, the Rural Women’s Movement.
“Having been part of the National Women’s Coalition in the early 1990s, and having worked for the Association for Rural Advancement in Pietermaritzburg in the 1990s, she was determined to do something to empower the least empowered women of the province, those living in rural areas,” said De Haas.