Infighting has plagued the NFP since the death of founder Zanele Magwaza-Msibi in 2021.
(Photo by Gallo Images /Sowetan / Mohau Mofokeng)
The election of a new national leadership by the National Freedom Party (NFP) late last month may not be enough to save the party from being barred from participating in this year’s national and provincial elections.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) had suspended the NFP’s registration for national and provincial elections due to its failure to submit its financial statements and the factional battles which have gripped the party since the death of founder Zanele Magwaza-Msibi in 2021.
Not only have aggrieved party members initiated court action over the alleged rigging of the conference outcome, but conflict has broken out between newly elected president Ivan Barnes and secretary general Teddy Twala over how the party handles the challenge.
Both are part of the national executive committee elected on 16 December at a conference in Durban, the holding of which was among the conditions the NFP needs to meet in order to be re-registered by the IEC.
The two day conference was held despite the granting of leave to appeal against the order setting aside the result of its 2019 elective conference secured by the IEC by one of the NFP factions and elected a new leadership which included Barnes and Twala.
However, shortly thereafter, lawyers representing Khethi Mthethwa – who had unsuccessfully contested the post of deputy secretary general – and other aggrieved NFP members wrote to Twala informing him of their intention to challenge the outcome in court.
In the letter of demand – which was also sent to the IEC to formally record the dispute with the electoral authority – they said the elections were “not conducted fairly” and that “our clients intend to challenge the result.”
They said that NFP member Qaphelani Dlamini had “assumed the role of the electoral committee” and had been part of the team overseeing the elections “in circumstances where he was not a member of the committee”.
Mthethwa’s lawyers said that KwaZulu-Natal provincial chairperson Mbali Shinga and other leaders had “welcomed” delegates arriving at the conference, an “intimidatory posture calculated to intimidate delegates”.
There was also a dispute regarding the credentials of the Eastern Cape delegates which “remains unresolved”, while delegates were “refused an opportunity to vote”.
They also claimed that the voter’s roll had been “illegally tampered with” and “subsequently completed with a pen.”
These issues “raise serious questions on the integrity and credibility of the elections.
Mthethwa’s legal team have demanded copies of the voters roll, minutes of the conference, recordings and all resolutions and decisions of the conference, ahead of the matter going to court.
Several days later, on 29 December, Twala wrote to the party’s new leadership noting the two challenges to the conference outcome and informing them that they should not occupy their positions for now.
Twala said in the letter that the conference results had not yet been declared and confirmed and that the appeal was still pending and that in the interim his office would carry on with the running of the party until the matter was resolved.
However, on 30 December Barnes wrote to party structures slamming the decision taken by Twala as being “unlawful and illegal.’
“It should be noted that the results of the conference are final unless the court of law sets them aside,” Barnes said. “The objections must be dealt with by the office of the secretary general, the electoral committee and reporting to the national executive committee or the national office bearers.”
Attempts to secure comment from Barnes were unsuccessful at the time of writing.
Canaan Mdletshe, secretary general of the faction which appealed the setting aside of the 2019 conference result, said that they were awaiting the opportunity to execute the appeal.
“Leave to appeal was granted in October, which is why we didn’t bother ourselves about the so-called conference because there are matters before court,” Mdletshe said.
“We still maintain that the gathering was illegal and illegitimate, and so were its outcomes,” Mdletshe said.
The party, which broke away from the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in 2011, made a strong start but has been plagued by infighting and financial problems which will see it being deregistered should it fail to meet the IEC’s conditions in time for the elections, which are likely to take place in May or June.
It has a small presence in the national assembly and the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, while it is involved in coalition governments with the ANC and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) in eThekwini and other municipalities in the province.