Infighting has plagued the NFP since the death of founder Zanele Magwaza-Msibi in 2021.
(Photo by Gallo Images /Sowetan / Mohau Mofokeng)
The National Freedom Party (NFP) has overcome the first of the hurdles to contesting next year’s elections by successfully holding its KwaZulu-Natal provincial elective conference last weekend.
It now needs to resolve the factional battle over its national leadership at its planned elective conference in December for the ban on participation in elections imposed by the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) to be lifted.
If it fails to do so, the party, whose funds were frozen by the IEC over a failure to submit financial statements, will not be able to contest the national and provincial elections, which are likely to take place next May.
At the weekend, Mbali Shinga, a NFP member of the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature, was elected the party’s provincial chairperson at a conference held in Newcastle, with Simphiwe Khumalo as her deputy.
Zodwa Mtshali was elected NFP provincial secretary, Zethembe Ngobese as her deputy and Sipho Mdluli as provincial treasurer of the party, which believes that it will be able to satisfy the IEC’s conditions before the poll.
The NFP was formed in 2011 by Zanele Magwaza-Msibi, a former Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) national chairperson, who broke away from the party due to clashes with then president Mangosuthu Buthelezi over its succession.
Initially, the party made a strong impact in KwaZulu-Natal, taking 10% of the vote in 2014 and securing a deputy minister’s post for Magwaza-Msibi in the national cabinet and seven seats nationally.
However, it lost ground in 2016 when it failed to meet the registration deadline for the local government elections and has been beset by intense factional battles since.
The internal tension increased in intensity due to the ill health of Magwaza-Msibi and worsened after her death in 2021.
This led to the IEC securing a court order preventing the NFP from contesting the by-elections held since 2021, while the party’s failure to submit its financial statements last year resulted in the IEC freezing its allocation from the state, pending it getting its books in order.
As part of the process of meeting the IEC’s conditions, the NFP has put together an interim national executive consisting of members of both warring factions, including Shinga and national assembly MP Ahmed Munzoor Shaik Emam, to lead it ahead of the December conference.
It has also set a timetable for inaugurating party branches in KwaZulu-Natal and other provinces before the conference, with the last election of provincial leaders set down for 15 November.
Canaan Mdletshe, the NFP secretary general, said the party believed the conference was “a step in the right direction” towards meeting the IEC’s conditions and would lead to a successful national elective conference in December.
“Our focus now is to prepare for next year’s elections. In December we will have a general elective conference and discuss policies and programmes so that we go full force into the elections,” Mdletshe said.
He said the hitherto rival factions would “put everything aside” and focus on preparing for the conference, which was “critical” as it would be a “barometer to test the unity which we have been able to achieve over the past couple of months”.
“The IEC says that there has to be an elected leadership of the NFP and we are trying by all means to do this, not only to demonstrate our compliance to the IEC, but to show our members that we have been able to deal with our internal issues.
“The conference is a step in the right direction; we are now over the first hurdle. We are now focusing on ensuring that the leadership and the other issues are settled and that we do not leave anybody behind,” Mdletshe said.
With 53 councillors in KwaZulu-Natal and one each in Gauteng, North West and Mpumalanga, the NFP hopes that an end to internal conflict will see the party grow its single provincial seat and two in the national assembly, come 2024.
It is part of the coalition that gave the ANC control of the eThekwini Municipality and is working with the governing party in other municipalities, including Nongoma, where a number of its councillors have been killed since July.
“Parties like the NFP are going to be critical in next year’s elections because we are a potential kingmaker, especially in KwaZulu-Natal. We might be the ones who decide where the governing party comes from,” he said.
“We are making sure we level the playing field now because we don’t want a conference where we throw chairs at each other,” Mdletshe said. “We want to have a peaceful conference where we come together under one roof and elect a leadership and discuss policy issues.”
Interim structures in Mpumalanga, North West, the Eastern Cape, Western Cape and Gauteng would hold conferences by 15 November, which would also boost the party’s plan to increase its national footprint beyond KwaZulu-Natal.
The NFP also faces a court battle with Newcastle events and marketing company Ezulwini Investments over a R13 million debt from 2014, which now stands at R25 million.
Ezulwini has gone to court over the debt and also wants to garnish NFP funding held by the IEC towards settling the debt.
Mdletshe said an NFP team was in discussions with Ezulwini to come to an agreement over the debt.
Shinga said that they would be interacting with the IEC in the province to address the ban on councillors contesting by elections and would focus on inaugurating structures and building unity ahead of December.
“We have been through a lot of internal problems and now we have a responsibility to our members to build unity. Our members have remained loyal to us through all of us. People have written us off on a number of occasions in the past, but the party has survived and I am sure that we will improve our performance in 2024,” Shinga said.
Turning to Nongoma, Mdletshe said councillors had been under attack since July and that, at the weekend, the wife of Nongoma councillor Senzeni Zulu had been shot dead by men who had come to their home looking for him.
“The surge in councillor attacks and killing in the area has instilled fear, not only amongst councillors, but the general public as well. This is a serious threat to stability, and the respect for law, and criminals and alleged hired hitmen have imposed themselves and are becoming a law unto themselves,” he said.
Mdletshe said the NFP wanted the government to impose a curfew in Nongoma to prevent the killings from spreading to other areas ahead of the elections.
“It is our view that imposing a curfew could go a long way in bringing about much-needed stability. It’s a last resort because all other attempts and calls for the protection of our councillors have fallen on deaf ears,” he said.
“We are well aware of the implications of our call but it’s the last resort. It’s our way of saying, ‘We are indeed desperate.’ Nongoma is no longer safe for politicians, in general, but worse for our councillors.”