Challenging the suspension: Mbali Shinga, the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for social development. Photo: KwaZulu-Natal Province
Mbali Shinga, the defiant KwaZulu-Natal MEC for social development, insists she will remain in her post, regardless of the outcome of the disciplinary action against her.
The National Freedom Party (NFP) hauled Shinga over the coals after she defied the party mandate during a vote of no confidence against premier Thamsanqa Ntuli last December.
While the NFP had resolved to support the motion tabled by the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party), Shinga made a surprise move by backing Ntuli’s premiership instead.
The decision infuriated the party’s leadership. She was subsequently summoned before the party’s national executive committee and ordered to resign as a member of the provincial legislature. Shinga again did not budge, prompting disciplinary proceedings.
“The gist of the matter, which we submitted during the disciplinary hearing was that the decision to suspend her was unlawful. Even the resolution referring my client to the disciplinary committee was taken by the national working committee and national executive committee, which had no quorum,” Shinga’s lawyer Sthembiso Mbhele told the Mail & Guardian on Thursday.
Mbhele said that while the party had concluded its internal disciplinary process, his client had briefed him to challenge the matter in court.
“We’re now awaiting a decision by the presiding officer. But we don’t expect the outcome to favour us because the chair of the disciplinary is … a political appointee,” he said.
Teddy Thwala, another staunch backer of Shinga and the suspended NFP secretary, blamed party president Irvin Barnes for what he described as poor leadership.
“We shouldn’t be here. Mr Barnes has let us down as a leader. The problem is that he knows only campus politics and doesn’t understand how mainstream politics operates. Our only hope is that the presiding officer will reach a sober decision,” Thwala said.
Although the NFP holds only a single seat in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, it remains a crucial power broker in the government of provincial unity. If the party’s top leadership succeeds in removing Shinga, it could alter the balance of power in the provincial government.
The Inkatha Freedom Party, NFP, ANC and Democratic Alliance together hold 41 of the 80 seats in the legislature. By contrast, the MK Party — although the single biggest party, with 37 seats — remains on the opposition benches.
The MK Party has pinned its hopes on peeling support away from the ANC, a party from which it splintered, amid speculation that some ANC MPLs sympathetic to former president Jacob Zuma could back a future motion if it is voted on by secret ballot.
The MK Party’s negotiation team is engaged in behind-the-scenes talks with various parties in an attempt to broker a deal before resubmitting its motion of no confidence against the KwaZulu-Natal cabinet.
During a media briefing, EFF leader Julius Malema said the red berets were engaged in negotiations aimed at becoming part of a KwaZulu-Natal government led by the MK Party.Neither Barnes nor Bheki Xaba, the NFP’s acting secretary, responded to questions from the M&G.