Ingonyama Trust execs party while the poor go hungry

The Ingonyama Trust - the trust that administers the land on which President Zuma's Nkandla compound is built - is throwing a Christmas party for 37 of its personnel at a cost of R2,700 a head. This is an obscene display of high living while the majority of people on Ingonyama Trust land live in poverty.

The KZN rural poverty rate of 78.2% is significantly higher than the national average. This is largely due to the legacy of the former homeland system, which, despite having been abolished along with apartheid, continues to deny opportunities to the poor and entrenches the privileges of a select few.

I will today write to the chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Land Reform, Stone Sizani, to call those responsible to Parliament to account for this reckless expenditure.

Real redress will only occur when leaders prioritise the upliftment of all the people of South Africa instead of conspicuous consumption at the expense of the poor.

Statement issued by Athol Trollip MP, DA Shadow Minister of Rural Development and Land Reform, November 20 2012

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