National Freedom Party president Ivan Barnes. (National Freedom Party/ Facebook)
Renewed infighting between leaders of the National Freedom Party (NFP) over control of the party, and tensions between it and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), may place the government of provincial unity in KwaZulu-Natal in jeopardy.
Premier Thami Ntuli on Tuesday convened a two-day lekgotla in Durban to map out a programme of action for his cabinet — made up of the IFP, NFP, ANC and Democratic Alliance (DA) — ahead of his state of the province address.
But a day earlier the Pietermaritzburg high court issued an interdict stopping NFP president Ivan Barnes from purging 15 senior members of the party until a challenge to his letters placing them on suspension is heard on 19 September.
The NFP’s single MP, Mbali Shinga, holds the balance of power in the province and the fresh outbreak of infighting cast renewed doubt on the ability of the troubled party to stay the course and play its role in the coalition government.
The party is also facing a court challenge to the outcome of its elective conference last December at which Barnes and secretary general Teddy Twala were elected.
At the same time, the NFP has also written to Ntuli accusing the IFP of interfering in its internal matters by blocking an attempt by Barnes last month to become mayor of the Zululand district municipality.
It has threatened to pull out of the provincial coalition, which has a single seat majority over the uMkhonto weSizwe party and the Economic Freedom Fighters in the 80-member legislature.
This would result in a collapse of the coalition government, a hung legislature and — potentially — a rerun of the election in the province should the parties fail to form a new government thereafter.
The NFP was formed in 2011 when then IFP national chairperson Zanele Magwaza-Msibi broke away from the party, but has battled with internal factions and financial issues since her death in 2021.
The Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) withheld NFP’s funding for several months because it had failed to submit financial statements on deadline and it was only allowed to participate in the 29 May elections after it held an elective conference last December — the outcome of which is now in dispute.
On Monday, the Pietermaritzburg high court issued an interim order interdicting “pending disciplinary process” against the 15 senior members, who include eThekwini deputy mayor Zandile Myeni and councillors from municipalities including Newcastle, Mthonjaneni, eMadlangeni and uPhongolo.
The order will remain in effect until 19 September, when Barnes will have the opportunity to argue as to why it will not be made permanent, along with the setting aside of a section of the NFP constitution allowing for summary dismissal of members by the party leadership.
The court will also rule on a request by Myeni and the other councillors that Barnes and the NFP executive be interdicted from taking an action against party members until the earlier challenge to the validity of the December 2023 conference has been dealt with by the court.
In an affidavit submitted to the court, Twala said the applicants were all being “harrassed” by Barnes, who was trying to have them removed for “factional interests and vengeance”.
Twala said the outcome of the December conference had been challenged by members and that a report by the NFP electoral commission had recommended that it be run again.
Court papers had been served on Barnes and the IEC in February, but the electoral body had still recognised him and had released funds to him ahead of the elections, “for reasons known only to it”.
After the elections, there had been “subtle efforts to deal with” the applicants, who were ordinary NFP members who had supported the electoral report findings and the court challenge to the conference outcome.
They had all been issued with letters by Barnes during the first week of July in which they were given 14 days to give reasons as to why they should not be suspended from the NFP.
Twala said the letters were issued in terms of a section of the NFP constitution that allowed its president to suspend members without due process — in consultation with its national executive committee — which was inconsistent with the principle of legality contained in Section 1 of the Constitution.
Barnes’s status as NFP president was the subject of a court challenge and “he should not be permitted in the interim to suspend or even to discipline members of the party pending the final determination of the legitimacy of his leadership and that of the NEC”.
The NFP electoral commission had ruled that the conference be re-run but that had not happened. Barnes therefore was NFP president “only at the instance of the IEC”, which had no mandate to interfere in internal party issues.
Twala said the matter was urgent and the applicants would suffer “incalculable prejudice” to their political careers, while their livelihoods and those of their families would be disrupted.
He said that Barnes was clearly “targeting” people in the party who disputed his claim to the presidency, and was “most likely to continue in his unlawful witch hunt for detractors” should the court not intervene urgently.
While the court order will halt any further suspensions and should impose some form of stability in the NFP, its relations with the IFP have been put under further pressure by the demand that Barnes be given the Zululand mayorship.
In a letter to Ntuli late last month, NFP national administrator Themba Dladla asked that he and the provincial leadership intervene in Zululand where the IFP was “tampering in NPF issues and processes”.
“This may affect the government of provincial unity as it stands if not resolved. We feel that the IFP is hostile and is playing cheap and rough politics at the expense of the organisation,” Dladla wrote.
Should the intervention not take place, “it would be an indication that the NFP can no longer trust the IFP and we should reverse our decision in working with the IFP”, he added.
The tension with the NFP is not the only stress on Ntuli’s new administration.
The ANC in the province has also complained about the conduct of KwaZulu-Natal cooperative governance and traditional affairs MEC Thulasizwe Buthelezi over his removal of administrators appointed to a number of municipalities by his predecessor, Bongi Sithole-Moloi.
The ANC and the IFP have been exploring extending their cooperation agreement to the local level in the province, a process that may also be set back by the dispute with Buthelezi.
ANC provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo last week accused Buthelezi of abusing his powers and of appointing new administrators to favour a “criminal syndicate” operating in the municipalities.
Mtolo said Buthelezi’s actions were illegal and that they were in discussions with the IFP leadership to ensure that the matter was addressed urgently.
Buthelezi has in turn defended his action and said they were aimed at improving governance and addressing corruption and maladministration in the municipalities.
Hostility between the two began before the elections, when a public spat took place between Buthelezi, in his capacity as traditional prime minister to King MisuZulu ka Zwelithini and ANC chairperson Siboniso Duma.
On Wednesday, Ntuli told the Mail & Guardian that they were closely watching what was happening in all the parties involved in the provincial government.
“The challenges that are facing political parties that are part of the government of national unity or the government of provincial unity, we are watching them closely,” he said.
“When we had engagements with our coalition partners we agreed that, going forward, the IFP will be worried about what is happening in the ANC, and the ANC would be worried about what is happening in the IFP, as we need all of these parties to be formidable, to be stable.”
Ntuli said the provincial unity government was still at the “initial” stage and that it was “expected” that there would be “some matters of attendance which along the way we will find them being fine tuned”