The National Freedom Party (NFP) has said it may consider quitting the Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) in KwaZulu-Natal if the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) fails to annul the election in which Michael Khumalo was elected as the new mayor of Zululand district.
The NFP says it was not consulted.
The mayor's post became vacant following the appointment of former mayor Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi as the province's new Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA) MEC under the IFP-led Government of Provincial Unity (GPU).
With one seat in the provincial parliament, the NFP are kingmakers and if they were to withdraw, the GPU in KwaZulu-Natal could collapse.
NFP leader Irvin Burns said, “IFP members are constantly continuing and lamenting the unity we are trying to build. I am here as the leader, as the IEC declared council. Now that the IFP is no longer cooperating, they need to right their ground. So, whatever happened yesterday needs to be repealed and corrected by the IFP. Remember, the GPU is not about us as political leaders, it is about the people we lead. But if this GPU led by the IFP is done at the expense of the NFP, then we will have no choice but to withdraw from it, which is our last option.”
Meanwhile, IFP president Berenkosini Hlabisa said there was no agreement between the IFP and the NFP on the issue of local government.
He said the agreement was to give the NFP the status of MEC at the provincial level.
NFP chairperson Mbali Singa is now the province's new MEC for Social Development under the Provincial Unity Government.
Hlavissa says: “There was never any discussion about giving the Zululand mayoral position to the NFP in return for the NFP working with the IFP. There was no such agreement. The IFP decided to give the NFP one post in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature even if the NFP was not eligible for the mayoral position in KwaZulu-Natal. That was the agreement and we honoured it.”
Video | IFP NEC Briefing on GNU Issues:
