The NFP has convened a special meeting on Thursday evening to discuss the political overtures from its partners in the Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) following the party’s decision to withdraw from the arrangement.
After the party announced its formal withdrawal on Wednesday and ordered its sole legislature member Mbali Shinga to tender her resignation, the party’s GPU partners (ANC, DA and IFP) called on the NFP leadership to reconsider its decision.
In a statement issued by the ANC in the province, it said it had noted the NFP’s withdrawal announcement and called for a bilateral meeting with the party’s leadership to engage on matters of governance. The ANC warned of wider implications of the NFP’s withdrawal beyond the GPU.
“The ANC respects the fact that the NFP has a right to make its own decisions about its allegiances, however, the ANC will seek a bilateral meeting engagement with the NFP to discuss the latest stance. In these engagements we would want to engage the NFP leadership on the wider implications of their decision beyond the GPU,” read the statement.
The GPU was formed after the national and general elections in 2023 and allowed the coalition to control the province through a narrow margin at the expense of the MKP and the EFF. The NFP was the swing vote in that decision and any U-turn by the party will affect the political balance in the provincial legislature.
The NFP is currently trying to hold a disciplinary hearing with Shinga, who last year defied the party’s instructions to vote for a motion of no confidence against KZN Premier Thami Ntuli, who is also the provincial chairperson of the IFP.
Speaking outside the venue of the disciplinary hearing on Thursday morning, the NFP’s acting Secretary-General Sunset Xaba said the party has convened a national executive committee to discuss the calls and request for meetings with the GPU partners.
Xaba, however, highlighted that the GPU partners had for long ignored their request for engagements as governing partners.
“We have noted their calls for us to reconsider our position, particularly the invitation for a meeting with the ANC. The NEC will meet this evening (Thursday) to look at the invitation particularly from the ANC, which for now is the only one that has formally invited us,” said Xaba.
The DA leader in the province, Francois Rodgers said although they are aware of the NFP’s internal leadership differences, ‘the party should not allow that to destabilise the government’.
The IFP, the leading GPU partner, accused the NFP of not putting the people of the province first by wanting to create a stalemate. Speaking to broadcast media on Wednesday night, the party’s president Velenkosini Hlabisa said the NFP withdrawal will not collapse the government but will create instability, as there will be a stalemate.
“If you want to create a stalemate it means you have no interest in the people of the province that the government is serving,” said Hlabisa.
Shinga has again defied the NFP’s directive to resign from government. In the directive issued by the party on Wednesday, it had given her until 9am on Thursday to tender her resignation letter, however this was not done.
Speaking outside the venue where her disciplinary hearing is taking place, Shinga on Thursday did not want to discuss the matter and referred queries to the NFP leadership.
A senior NFP member, who supports Shinga, said it was unreasonable for the party to ask her to resign while taking her through disciplinary processes.
“That was an illogical thing to do. Why charge a member then ask her to resign voluntarily?”
The hearing has been postponed.
