Right of reply: The IFP’s Velenkosini Hlabisa. Photo: Brenton Geach/Gallo Images
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) president Velenkosini Hlabisa believes his party will be part of a coalition government, both at national level and in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, after the 29 May elections.
The IFP will launch its manifesto for the national and provincial elections at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium on Sunday, aiming to pull off a major show of strength in the same venue used by the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the ANC earlier this year.
It hopes to regain control of KwaZulu-Natal — which it lost to the ANC in 2004 after 10 years of being in power — and to consolidate the ground it recovered, nationally and in Gauteng, in the 2019 poll.
In an interview with the Mail & Guardian in Durban on Wednesday night, Hlabisa said it was “all systems go” for the manifesto launch, the culmination of several pre-election activities the party has held since December.
Hlabisa said he would deliver a “real” manifesto on behalf of the party which would “not want to impress people but to really talk to the challenges South Africans face and come up with practical solutions”.
He argued that the IFP’s strategy on creating jobs, ending load-shedding and dealing with crime was “different” from that of other parties and had been developed through a process of consultation with people, groundwork and specialised inputs “so that we can turn things around in these three areas”.
The IFP is a key part of the Multi-Party Charter for South Africa, the opposition coalition set up in August which hopes to replace the ANC after 29 May, along with the Democratic Alliance (DA), ActionSA, the Freedom Front Plus, the African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) and a number of new parties, which will contest their first election in May.
The parties have already set down ground rules for how they would relate to one another in a coalition government after May — and how they would divide the spoils — which they hope will allow them to set up an administration fast and with little friction over the allocation of posts.
Hlabisa said they were confident that the IFP would be able to capitalise on its run of wins in local government by elections since 2021 — and on its growth over the last round of national and provincial elections.
While the emergence of the uMkhonto we Sizwe Party (MK) would make things “very difficult” in KwaZulu-Natal, he was confident the IFP and its coalition partners would take the ANC below 50%.
A “positive reception” in Gauteng, where the party already has a significant presence, was likely to translate into the IFP and its partners taking over the province after 29 May.
“We are confident that in Gauteng we will push the ruling party to below 50% and that the IFP will be part of a new government at executive level where we influence decisions to the benefit of the people of Gauteng,” Hlabisa said.
“We envisage a similar situation at national level, where we will be part of a new government.”
He said the rise of the MK party meant that there might be a “very difficult situation” in KwaZulu-Natal after the elections, because the new party could take as many as half of the ANC’s existing seats.
This could result in a three-way split between the ANC, MKP and the DA, IFP, FF+, ACDP coalition and a situation where no two parties actually constituted above 50%, which could force parties into “the wrong coalition” and further instability.
This was already the case in Ekurhuleni and in the City of Johannesburg, where the ANC and EFF were in coalitions which were failing and which were “not taking people forward”, due to their lack of stability.
“It is a reality that we are going into a situation where there will be coalitions. To create a stable environment, you have to have the correct coalition in place.
“You cannot get into a coalition for the sake of wanting to govern,” Hlabisa said.
Parties also needed to “live up to the mandate” and to deliver on what they had promised voters. They had to ensure that the individuals they put in place within government were capable and competent.
This, combined with sound policy development and the setting of timelines for delivery on policies, would create the level of stability and certainty required to attract long-term investment to the country.
“If you can do that, a stable environment will automatically fall into place,” Hlabisa said.