The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) is now widely expected to withdraw from the national cabinet in the next few weeks after being given an ultimatum from the African National Congress (ANC) to stick to its coalition agreement.
This follows the surprise sacking by Kwazulu-Natal IFP Premier Lionel Mtshali of two of the four ANC provincial ministers.
Leadership teams from the two parties — including President Thabo Mbeki and IFP leader (and Home Affairs Minister) Mangosuthu Buthelezi — had crisis talks on Tuesday following last Friday’s decision to remove the two ANC ministers.
The IFP replaced Mike Mabuyakulu, Economics and Tourism Minister, and
Dumisani Makhaye, Housing Minister, and ironically a key lieutenant of Mbeki’s, with the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) Roger Burrows and Reverend Ndawoyakhe Ngcobo respectively.
While national ANC representative Smuts Ngonyama declined to comment today, former Kwazulu-Natal MPL Belinda Scott — who crossed from the Democratic Alliance to the ANC earlier this year — said the IFP had been given a “couple of weeks to sort out” the collapsing of the coalition agreement.
Otherwise she noted that Buthelezi and his two ministers and two deputy ministers in the national government faced being removed. Scott said the two parties had agreed after the 1999 election that the two parties be given equal representation in the provincial executive and in the Kwazulu-Natal legislature structures.
She said the IFP had already reneged on the agreement that IFP Premier
Lionel Mtshali be a rotating premier only.
While IFP representative Reverend Musa Zondi was not taking calls on Wednesday, sources close to Buthelezi said that a move out of national cabinet can’t be ruled out.
Asked if Buthelezi was likely to remove the DA members, a source said: “That is not how the leader operates.”
The IFP holds three national cabinet posts, two deputy ministerial posts and a number of ambassadorships. A withdrawal from government would also mean that Buthelezi’s special advisor in his ministry, Dr Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, would lose his post.
Party insiders said the ultimatum to the IFP was expected to be put to the national council when it met in Ulundi on the weekend of December 13-14.
The party has the option then of deciding to withdraw from cabinet, remain in cabinet until kicked out by Mbeki or restore the ANC ministers in Kwazulu-Natal. It is unlikely to take the latter option.
Buthelezi has repeatedly said that he served in cabinet at the president’s pleasure and would leave only when asked to do so.
The national council will also likely decide on calling an election in
Kwazulu-Natal, its traditional powerbase and a region it has ruled since the 1970s. This would require, ironically, a vote of no-confidence in the IFP led provincial government.
SA Communist Party leader Blade Nzimande, who hails from Kwazulu-Natal,
said today that the IFP should not withdraw from government. For the sake of delivery to its own members “and to rise above sectional, provincial and ethnic interests”, it should remain in government structures.
Nzimande said that he could not comment on the exact details of how this could be achieved in the context of the dismissal of the ANC members.
The IFP took the action of axing the ANC ministers soon after it won a constitutional court case to prevent five defectors — including two from the IFP — from crossing to the ANC. The ANC would then have been able to take power in the legislature.
The IFP is also expected to oppose legislation to allow for retrospective floor-crossing by national and provincial MPs. – I-Net Bridge