WITH relations strained between the IFP and the ANC, the IFP is considering holding a joint parliamentary caucus meeting with the DA as the parties explore new relations at a national level.
Democratic Alliance (DA) representative Nick Clelland-Stokes said: ”We are keen to improve relations with the IFP across the board, including national level in order to bring it line with the provincial, municipal level”.
Asked to confirm that the DA and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) caucus would hold a joint meeting, he said: ”There is ongoing dialogue. Nothing has been finalised”.
IFP chief whip Koos van der Merwe said: ”Something is in the air, but I have not been told officially or unofficially”.
The IFP and the DA already co-operate at local level in KwaZulu-Natal and two months ago party leaders Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Tony Leon shared a joint platform as their parties considered extending the relationship in the province.
The IFP and DA already co-govern eight municipalities in the province.
Speaking at the joint meeting of local government councillors in Durban at the time, Buthelezi said that only by bringing people together could problems be solved.
”I am not suggesting that the IFP and the DA should eliminate their differences, or become one party.
”We are two distinct parties and will continue to remain two distinct parties because we have two different functions to perform in the making of South Africa?s history,” he said then.
But he believed they could work together as two distinct political organisations, and when differences arose ”we can sit down with a spirit of goodwill to sort out those differences in a framework of mutual respect.
”The IFP and the DA are not convened here today to form a political alliance. We are here to celebrate our having common and shared values,” he was reported as saying.
Since the meeting, relations between the African National Congress (ANC) and the IFP, who have a power-sharing arrangement in KwaZulu-Natal and at national level, have deteriorated, particularly over the Immigration Bill, which Buthelezi is piloting through Parliament.
Questioned on Thursday about whether he planned to withdraw his bill, after the ANC introduced radical last-minute amendments in Parliament, Buthelezi said this would depend on whether the draft legislation departed radically from the original.
He hinted at his displeasure with the ANC, saying: ”I might be forced to take a political decision. I am a leader of the minority party of the government, and I am always aware of the position”.
However, he also had certain obligations to his own party, Buthelezi said.
The IFP leader also rebuked two of his ANC Cabinet colleagues, saying he was forced to launch the electoral task team – which is to redraft an electoral law – without representatives from their departments, despite repeated requests.
The IFP is holding a national council workshop in Ulundi this weekend, where the party’s deteriorating relationship with the ANC is expected to be discussed.
The DA is looking for new co-operation partners after its alliance with the New National Party collapsed late last year, when the latter withdrew in favour of a co-operation deal with the ANC. – Sapa