South Australia has reappointed the manager of the state's Aboriginal lands for another three years.

SA Premier Steven Marshall – who holds the state’s Aboriginal affairs portfolio – has offered a new contract to Richard King as Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) general manager.

“This month I approved the terms and conditions for the reappointment of Mr King as general manager, as recommended by the majority of the APY executive board,” Mr Marshall said.

“The APY Lands legislation empowers the APY people to manage their own affairs, and I want it to remain that way.”

But some in APY Lands say the highly-paid appointment was made with no regard to debates amongst traditional owners as to who should hold the role.

APY executive chair Frank Young, a traditional owner from Watarru, says the Premier’s decision was not backed by the required number of signatures of elected representatives.

Land rights law gives the chairman responsibility for calling meetings of the board, but he says two recent meetings that he had attempted to cancel went ahead without him.

Mr Young also said he had written to Mr Marshall to shed light on the dysfunctional running of the APY board, but found that “the Premier never listens”.

Mr King was first appointed to the role appointment to the role in 2015, at which time he was the eighth general manager to work on the lands since 2010.

The high turnover of general managers was reportedly fuelled by the board’s constant infighting.

The government had hoped that Mr King would help address “escalating concerns” about the finances of APY.

He has overseen the introduction of stricter financial and accounting controls, as well as changes to eligibility criteria for sitting on the APY board, including equal gender representation.

South Australian Ombudsman Wayne Lines last year released early findings of an investigation into Mr King, which said he had acted “in a manner that was wrong” by not providing written notes of APY board meetings and not cooperating with the investigation.

Mr King has called on the South Australian Supreme Court to review the ombudsman's report, but there is no clear date on when a judgment will be handed down.