KwaZulu-Natal Premier Lionel Mtshali has outmanoeuvred the African National Congress by insisting that all government business will be conducted from Ulundi — effectively making Ulundi the capital of KwaZulu-Natal.
The two parties run a coalition government in the province, headed by an Inkatha Freedom Party premier.
Last week the ANC pushed for and won Pietermaritzburg as the seat of the legislature. Senior government officials said, however, that by forcing Pietermaritzburg down the IFP’s throat, the ANC had ”literally driven” Mtshali to make Ulundi the capital of the province by other means.
The IFP was already cracking the whip last week, when Mtshali announced that all cabinet meetings would be held in Ulundi. ANC MECs boycotted last week’s meeting, arguing that they had not been given enough notice.
However, they were present at this week’s cabinet meeting in Ulundi on Wednesday. Government insiders said the ANC did not have much of a choice, as it was Mtshali’s prerogative to decide the meeting’s venue.
ANC spokesperson Mtholephi Mthimkhulu said that while the ANC had attended this week’s cabinet meeting, the venue was still under discussion.
Government insiders draw parallels with the national set-up — where Parliament is located in Cape Town but government business is conducted from Pretoria, making it the capital. Ulundi and Pietermaritzburg have joint capital status as part of a compromise deal with the IFP in 1994.
In the 1999 election the ANC promised in its manifesto to reinstate Pietermaritzburg as the sole capital. In moving Pietermaritzburg as the seat of the legislature, its primary objective was to move towards that goal.
The cost factor — R50-million a year — of maintaining two legislature seats brought the Democratic Party and the New National Party to the ANC’s side.
Mtshali, who lives in Durban, runs his office between Durban and Ulundi. Hard-core IFP members, such as MEC for Public Works Celani Mtetwa and MEC for Social Welfare Gideon Zulu, live and work in Ulundi. The Department of Education, another IFP portfolio headed by Professor Gabriel Ndabandaba, is also Ulundi-based.
The remaining three IFP ministers — MEC for Finance Peter Miller; Nyanga Ngubane, who runs the portfolios of safety and security and local government; and MEC for Agriculture Narend Singh have their departments based in and around Pietermaritzburg.
ANC MECs Sbu Ndebele (transport), Zweli Mkhize (health), Dumisani Makhaye (housing) and Mike Mbuyakhulu (economic development) operate between Pietermaritzburg and Durban.