Former Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) chairperson Sipho Ngwenya has been accused by the Pietermaritzburg High Court of failing to comply with an order to repay R30 million belonging to the Ingonyama Trust.
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Former Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) chairperson, Sipho Ngwenya, has recently lost his bid to appeal a Pietermaritzburg High Court ruling ordering him to repay R30 million, a sum he had instructed to be transferred from the Ingonyama Trust to his attorney’s trust account.
The court dismissed his application for leave to appeal, deeming his arguments for overturning the repayment order as stillborn and unjustified in law.
The R30 million transfer to the trust account of his lawyer, Jafta Incorporated, occurred after the Ingonyama Trust sold land in Hammarsdale to the eThekwini Municipality in June 2018. According to Vela Mngwengwe, the former CEO of ITB, Ngwenya lacked the authority to order this transfer of funds.
Furthermore, Mngwengwe stated that Ngwenya failed to explain the whereabouts of the money when served with a letter of demand.
When taken to court, Ngwenya challenged the authority of Strauss Daly Incorporated to represent the ITB and Ingonyama Trust, demanding that the law firm satisfy Rule 7(1) to prove its mandate.
Although Strauss Daly provided reasons to satisfy Rule 7(1), Ngwenya remained unconvinced, arguing their response was non-compliant and that the matter should not have proceeded. Crucially, when the same court ordered him to file an answering affidavit regarding the Rule 7 issue, he failed to comply.
Consequently, Advocate Credo Mlaba, acting for Strauss Daly, successfully obtained a court order striking out Ngwenya’s defence for his failure to file an affidavit explaining the transfer of R30 million. The court granted this order, instructing Ngwenya to repay the money within 30 days.
In dismissing the appeal, Judge Rajkumar Nirghin noted that Ngwenya failed to file an affidavit explaining the transfer of funds, opting instead to take technical points to avoid submitting his answering affidavit.
Judge Nirghin concluded that there were no reasonable prospects of success if leave to appeal were granted.
“I am not convinced that a court of appeal could reasonably conclude differently from that of this court. The applicant’s application for leave to appeal stands to be dismissed,” he stated.
nomonde.zondi@inl.co.za