Dr Helena Dolny, widow of former South African Communist Party leader, Joe Slovo, is at the centre of a controversy involving allegations of greed, corruption and racism.
Dr Dolny, who took over as managing director of the Land Bank after the African National Congress assumed power in 1994, is the target of fierce, denigrating criticism in a report submitted to the Presidential Office. The author of the report, Mr Bonile Jack, is immediate past chairman of the Land Bank's board.
Mr Jack, who is black, accuses British-born Dr Dolny of seeking to persuade the board to increase her salary more than 100 per cent by raising it from R630,000 (£120,500) a year to R1.4 million, more than double the salary of President Thabo Mbeki.
The bid was first resisted by the board and then halted by the new Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs, Ms Thoko Msane-Didiza. Mr Jack says Dr Dolny sought to circumvent the board by dealing directly with the former minister of land affairs and agriculture, Mr Derek Hannekom, who is white.
Dr Dolny is accused of racism by Mr Jack. He charges her with "flushing out" black managers and replacing them with "a liberal clique".
Mr Jack says that of the R11 billion loans made by the bank, only R56 million went to black farmers. He further records that:
The Poultry Institute at the University of Natal was granted a R300,000 loan, while the National African Farmers' Union failed to secure a loan.
The institute is run by Dr Dolny's first husband (Slovo was her second), a fact which Dr Dolny failed to disclose to the board at the time.
Ms Msane-Didiza, who served as Mr Hannekom's deputy, has ordered an investigation into the allegations, demanding a report within two weeks. Dr Dolny, who is overseas, has yet to respond to the allegations.
Meanwhile, Mr Hannekom has entered the fray with a written statement: having turned down a request for a salary increase in 1998, he approved one in early 1999 for 10 per cent on the recommendation of the then board chairman, Dr Dolny's accuser, Mr Jack.