Hardliners in the IFP are planning to quit government and strengthen their majority in kwaZulu/Natal, writes Farouk Chothia
A SPECIAL Inkatha Freedom Party conference early next year will consider a plan by party hardliners to quit the government of national unity (GNU) and play the role of a Westminster-styled opposition party, IFP insiders revealed this week.
This could be followed with a push to dissolve the IFP- dominated kwaZulu/Natal government as a prelude to a fresh election in the province in a bid to strengthen the IFP’s 51 percent majority, the sources added.
The sources said the IFP plans to throw down the gauntlet to the ANC in kwaZulu/Natal early next year. Its strategy will revolve around using the provincial legislature to claim “real federal powers” on issues like policing and housing, thus sparking a major constitutional confrontation with the ANC and central government.
The IFP may also push for a dissolution of the provincial government, on the grounds that its attempts to govern are being frustrated, and call a snap poll, the sources said.
The IFP believes it will strengthen its majority in such a poll as it obtained 51 percent of the vote in the April election after only six days of campaigning, the sources added.
The future plans of IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi are less clear: some sources said he will lead the IFP from the parliamentary backbenches to win national support while others claimed he will seek the kwaZulu/
Natal premiership in a bid to hold on to a support-base threatened by Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini’s departure to the ANC.
Sources said final decisions will be made at an IFP special general conference to be held either in January or February next year.
The sources said the commencement and successful completion of international mediation early next year could persuade the IFP to remain part of the GNU.
Meanwhile, the odds are in favour of a pull-out: the “overriding feeling” at an IFP national council meeting a fortnight ago was that the ANC is merely using the GNU as a “rubber-stamp” for its policies, the sources said. They cited examples to back up this view, including:
* IFP protests against a constitutional amendment paving the way for the appointment of temporary judges to the Constitutional Court fell on deaf ears. The ANC then appointed a replacement to Justice Richard Goldstone, failing to consult the IFP on a suitable candidate.
* Laws related to education were amended without the IFP’s views being taken into account. The IFP had wanted provinces to have the power to train teachers. The ANC pushed ahead to make it a national function.
* Buthelezi was made minister of home affairs but his clout diminished when the ANC removed local government elections from his portfolio.
* Proportional representation in the allocation of seats has applied only at cabinet level and not at committee or other levels. The IFP was given the chairmanship of only the public enterprise standing committee, though in terms of proportional representation the party qualifies for another one or two parliamentary chairmanships.
In kwaZulu/Natal, the IFP has given the ANC chairmanship of four committees, in line with proportional representation.
* The ANC is taking sole credit for the reconstruction and development programme and Minister Without Portfolio Jay Naidoo controls RDP finances and approves projects. The kwaZulu/Natal government has been left “powerless” in this regard.
Against this backdrop, influential hardliners have advocated a Westminster-styled opposition role for the IFP on the grounds that it will be free to emerge as a vocal critic of the ANC, a task currently performed by the Democratic Party.
Rather than take blame for ANC failure to deliver on its election promises, the IFP would then be in a position to attract the ANC’s disenchanted supporters.
Sources said the moves towards a pull-out from the GNU are also tied to the ascendancy of hardliners within the IFP and, more importantly, political developments in kwaZulu/Natal.
These sources said the hand of the anti-GNU faction gained momentum when the ANC and Zwelithini edged closer to each other about three months ago. The wooing of Zwelithini is seen as a clear attempt on the ANC’s part to wrest control of kwa-Zulu/Natal, much to the chagrin of IFP leaders who believe that this runs against the spirit of the GNU which embodies power-sharing, the sources added.
The IFP sources argue that the ANC should be satisfied with power at the centre and in seven of the nine provinces. They added that IFP moderates are on the defensive and acknowledge that hardliners have valid concerns — and hope that the ANC rethinks its strategies.