The Royal Household Trust, which manages the affairs of the Zulu-Royal house, has come under fire for its management of the construction of King Misuzulu’s new palace in oPhongola.

Sipho Buthelezi, the chief financial officer of the trust, was first questioned about the scope of work increasing which could potentially lead to increased costs.

Buthelezi faced further scrutiny for stating that it is not possible for him to say “no” to a request from his principal in the Royal House.

He did not provide further details and later retracted this comment.

The Royal Household Trust appeared before the Finance Portfolio Committee recently and mentioned that funds had been set aside for work at the new Mashobeni Royal Palace in oPhongola.

The committee wanted to know how much is being spent on the construction of the palace after it was revealed that the scope of the work has expanded to include structures not in the original design.

Committee chairperson Mthandeni Dlungwana said that while they are not against the expansion of the scope of the project but they wanted to know where the additional money is coming from.

"It is our understanding now that you have added new rondavels that were not part of the original budget. … Everything needs to be budgeted for… You cannot arbitrarily include additional items.”

Dlungwana indicated that the committee took exception to Buthelezi’s position that he cannot say “no”.

MK Party leader Mervyn Dirks echoed this sentiment. “You cannot come to the portfolio committee and say that. I understand that you have a principal, but you must deal with this issue properly. We are using taxpayers' money, and we must account to the public.”

Committee member Lourens de Klerk said that if the Trust was fulfilling its purpose, it would not find itself in this position. “The trust was established to allow it to generate its own revenue so that it is not dependent on government funding."

Buthelezi, responding to members' concerns, did not elaborate on the additional costs but indicated that the trust officials are between a rock and a hard place. “As an entity, we have a responsibility to support His Majesty and the royal household. We have to prioritise the king. If we have projects for other palaces, we will do them, bearing in mind that we have this budget. It is quite difficult to be in a situation where we cannot say no. The only way is to reprioritise the budget; if there are things you can leave for another year, you do that.”

He later amended his responses, saying that the situation was challenging, but they do say “no” to some of the requests coming from the Royal House.

THE MERCURY