The ANC's alliance partners in KwaZulu-Natal have been publicly critical of its provincial executive committee — led by chairperson Siboniso Duma and secretary Bheki Mtolo — over its failure to meet them for more than a year and to consult them regarding key decisions.
(Darren Stewart/Gallo Images)
A coalition with the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal is near impossible with the ruling party’s provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo at the helm, Inkatha Freedom Party president Velenkosi Hlabisa has said.
In an extensive interview with the Mail & Guardian this week, Hlabisa said the conduct of the ANC in the province had resulted in the disintegration of the relationship between the two parties.
The ruling party faces a possible decline in support in next year’s election, with the IFP staging a comeback in the province in 2021 and taking control of several wards in by-elections since.
Mtolo angered the IFP when he wrote an open letter addressed to the late struggle stalwart, Mzala Nxumalo, calling IFP founder and former leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi a “meddlesome pretender” and a “ravening wolf”.
In the letter, published in the Daily News, Mtolo said over the 50 years of Buthelezi’s political life, he had been projecting an image of an honest man “yet he is a ravening wolf in sheep’s clothing”.
“This leader speaks with a forked tongue on matters. He creates an impression that what he does is in the interest of the nation. Zig-zagging has been the hallmark of his political career,” Mtolo said.
Reacting to the letter, IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa released a statement calling Mtolo a “madman wielding an axe, baiting violence in a sorry, pathetic, cheap and desperate act to deflect focus on his failings as provincial secretary”.
“Mtolo is a danger to democracy. He is a war-mongering lunatic, facing the inevitable implosion of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, as the prospects of losing power come to the fore ahead of the 2024 elections,” Hlengwa said.
“He is a small boy projecting importance through a statesman way out of his league. The IFP will not be distracted by useful idiots of Mtolo’s ilk, as we continue on our trajectory of growth towards 2024. The IFP will win through the barrel of the ballot.”
Hlabisa told the M&G that Mtolo’s letter had turned the tide on any possible coalition talks between the two parties after next year’s elections, when the ANC’s support is widely expected to fall below 50% for the first time since the inaugural democratic vote in 1994.
He said the insults to Buthelezi had especially galled the party because he was in hospital. While other political leaders were wishing him a speedy recovery, Mtolo had chosen to disparage him.
“That respect [between the ANC and the IFP] still exists at the national level. The ANC at a national level is different from the ANC of KwaZulu-Natal. The KwaZulu-Natal ANC is full of disrespect. Out of the blue, they will just drop something that makes you all feel that this is unacceptable,” Hlabisa said.
IFP President Velenkosi Hlabisa. (Sandile Ndlovu/Getty Images)
“At a national level, the leadership of the ANC highly respects Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi and they highly respect the IFP as a partner in the political sphere. But it is different when it comes to KwaZulu-Natal — the ANC leaders in KwaZulu-Natal have all sorts of names they use in describing the IFP.”
Hlabisa said the ANC’s president Cyril Ramaphosa had dropped the ball in leaving it to the provincial leadership to foster reconciliation talks between the two parties.
“The ball is in the court of the ANC. The blunder the ANC president made — I might say because of his heavy schedule — [was that] he was really hoping that the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal would take forward the issue of reconciliation,” he said.
“Unfortunately, they don’t have the capacity to do so. But this matter must be taken forward by the president of the ANC. It is he who can make this relationship that exists of respecting each other between the IFP and the ANC filter down. It cannot be the other way around.”
The IFP is set to hold talks with other opposition parties next week about forming a coalition to unseat the ANC in next year’s elections.
Hlabisa has already received an endorsement from Freedom Front Plus leaders to head the coalition, should it emerge. He said that he would accept the position of president if the coalition agreed that he should lead.
Hlabisa said although a coalition with the ANC was not on the cards for now, if the coalition did not succeed in its grand plan to unseat the ruling party, the IFP would consider all its options.
“We are in coalition with the Democratic Alliance in 13 municipalities. So, now, the first choice in terms of coalition that is available for the IFP is the coalition with Democratic Alliance.
“ActionSA has spoken out openly that, whatever numbers they will get, they are looking forward to working with the IFP,” he said.
Hlabisa said the ANC’s reputation as a corrupt party was also an impediment to coalition talks.
“The issue of corruption in the ANC has almost all senior leaders implicated in the Zondo commission on state capture. Now, many people say the ANC has let us down. Our society has become a crime zone. We have graduates, medical doctors, who are unemployed and people are saying the load-shedding exposes us to crime at night,” he said.
“Load-shedding is a direct failure of the ANC. Now, people say we are not going to vote for the ANC because we want the ANC out of power. So, it would not be a good thing for us to bring the ANC back through the backdoor to power when people actually wanted to vote it out.
“That is why they have one saying it can be an option but a very difficult option to take. The easy option for us is the DA, FF+, ActionSA and all other parties that we are engaged with in the national convention that will take place next week in Johannesburg,” Hlabisa added.