Angry African National Congress members in KwaZulu-Natal are threatening to use the party’s majority in the legislature to undermine the Inkatha Freedom Party-led provincial executive if it does not drop a Democratic Alliance cabinet member.
An ANC member of the provincial legislature told the Mail & Guardian that according to the proportional representation calculations, the ANC was entitled to five seats on the executive, the IFP four and the DA one.
The ANC holds four positions in the provincial cabinet, the DA two and the IFP five, including the premier’s seat. The ANC holds 40 seats against the IFP’s 38 in the 80-seat legislature.
An ANC MPL said: ”We can prevent policies or hamper the process of
passing budgets.”
But ANC spokesperson Mtholephi Mthimkhulu, while supporting the call to make room for another ANC member in the provincial cabinet, said the party was not making any threats.
”We have not yet exhausted the avenue of negotiations,” he said, distancing the official ANC line from ”emotional outbursts”.
Mthimkhulu, however, did point out that the IFP actually held seven positions because the DA was its ally. He said the IFP had to split the 10 cabinet positions evenly with the ANC and then decide who it wanted to share its five seats with.
ANC members have argued that even the province’s delegation to the National Council of Provinces reflected the accurate distribution of seats in the legislature.
The ANC has three permanent delegates at the council, the IFP two and the DA one.
The IFP’s Musa Zondi declined to comment. However, it is understood that the IFP favours addressing the issue of balance in the cabinet by making provision in the provincial consititution for an increase in the number of portfolios.
A date for negotiations is yet to be decided.