The MKP's Mervyn Dirks led its MPLs out of the legislature chamber in Pietermaritzburg in protest against the election of the whips and committee chairs going ahead. Photo supplied
The uMkhonto weSizwe party (MK) party walked out of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature session convened to elect the portfolio committee chairperson on Tuesday, leaving candidates from the governing provincial coalition to be elected unopposed.
The party’s Mervyn Dirks led its MPLs out of the legislature chamber in Pietermaritzburg in protest against the election of the whips and committee chairs going ahead after they had attempted to argue that the election was not being held within the prescribed period.
They also argued that the MK party was automatically entitled to the position of chief whip and that changes to the rules of the legislature allowed an MP from any of the parties within the provincial government to take on the whip and deputy whip roles.
After several attempts by Dirks and other MK party MPLs to intervene and stop the session were overruled by speaker Nontembeko Boyce, the party’s 39 members walked out of the house.
Before doing so, Dirks threatened legal action against the speaker for allowing the process to continue against the wishes of the MK party, which is the largest of the parties in the legislature.
Dirks said that the speaker had “no regard” for the MK party and said that, should she continue in this way, “this will come back to bite you”.
The ANC, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the National Freedom Party (NFP) took control of the province after the 29 May elections, despite the MK party taking 45% of the vote in KwaZulu-Natal.
They used their one-seat majority again on Tuesday to elect MPLs from the three parties as committee chairpersons. The NFP did not get a committee chair as its single MPL, Mbali Shinga, was appointed as social development MEC.
The ANC’s Ntuthuko Mahlaba was elected by the same 40-0 margin as the influential chair of committees, while the IFP’s Otto Kunene was elected as Mahlaba’s deputy.
The DA’s provincial leader Francois Rodgers backed the nomination of both.
The vote for the additional committee members took place after it was proposed by the ANC’s Super Zuma — and seconded by Rodgers — with each candidate nominated by the coalition being elected unanimously.
ANC MPLs were elected to chair committees including office of the premier (Mbali Frazer), finance (Mthandeni Dlungwana) and economic development and environment affairs (Bongi Sithole-Moloi).
Three DA MPL’s — Marlene Nair, Imran Keeka and Tim Brauteseth — were elected as committee chairs.
Brauteseth will chair the influential Standing Committee on Public Accounts, which performs an oversight function over the province’s public spending.
While the IFP-led coalition has once again held, fresh infighting has broken out in the NFP, which could threaten the stability of both the party and the unity government.
The tension stemmed from the failure of NFP president, Ivan Barnes, to secure the mayoral seat in the Zululand district municipality.
Barnes was sworn in as a Zululand councillor two weeks ago, ahead of the vote for mayor, but was defeated by the IFP’s Michael Khumalo after that party refused to back him.
The two parties have been at loggerheads in the province’s rural municipalities and there have been fears that these disputes — including that in Zululand — might poison the relationship at provincial level.
After Barnes went public about his concerns and complained to the provincial structure set up to manage issues between coalition partners, Teddy Thwala had issued a public statement last week reiterating the NFP’s support for the provincial coalition government and stating that there was no agreement between the party and the IFP at local government level.
Barnes responded by issuing Thwala with a letter of suspension, both as secretary general and as a member of the NFP.
The NFP president has also taken issue with eThekwini deputy mayor Zandile Myeni and issued her a notice to suspend her over failure to attend a party NEC meeting in March. He has issued a similar notice to Clifford Ndabandaba, one of its councillors in Vryheid.
The NFP has been racked by factional battles for more than a decade. They have worsened since the death of its founder Zanele Magwaza-Mbisi, in 2021 and the party was only allowed to contest the May election after a long battle with the Electoral Commission of South Africa.
Barnes, Thwala and Myeni did not respond to calls from the Mail & Guardian.