On the eve of a federal council meeting to discuss the future of the New National Party following its poor performance in April’s national and provincial elections, the party’s Gauteng administrative office has closed.
Provincial leader Johan Kilian said the lease on the building, in Hatfield, Pretoria, expired at the end of May and it was not deemed feasible to renew the contract.
Apart from being the seat of the provincial secretariat, the building also housed the Gauteng NNP’s constituency offices. But since the party no longer has any MPs or MPLs representing Gauteng, that function has lapsed.
The move is in no way a sign of the party’s imminent dissolution in Gauteng, Kilian said.
But the party leadership is awaiting the outcome of Saturday’s federal council meeting before deciding whether to enter into a new lease agreement on a smaller building.
”We would have preferred to keep the office open for longer, but when the lease expired we did not think it prudent to sign another lease on such a large building for another three years.”
Kilian said the office had two permanent employees — provincial secretary Bessie Brummer and an assistant who has since taken up another job.
Brummer is currently working from home.
The NNP obtained seven out of a total of 400 seats in the National Assembly after the April poll. It has MPLs only in the Western Cape (five) and the Northern Cape (two).
In 1999, the NNP won 28 National Assembly seats and 38 across the provinces.
The party’s predecessor, the National Party, was established in the Free State 90 years ago. It ruled during the apartheid years and changed its name after the country attained democracy in 1994.
The NNP in the Free State last month resolved to recommend to the federal council that the party disband as soon as legally possible.
Kilian would not be drawn on what the council may decide at the weekend.
Political commentator Willem Kleynhans said the closing of the office is symptomatic of the NNP’s demise in Gauteng and the rest of the country.
”Others will follow,” he said.
He predicted that Saturday’s federal council meeting will mark the official end of the party.
Kleynhans said he suspects the NNP will disband at national level and opt to allow its provincial structures to continue existing independently. Only the Western Cape and Northern Cape should remain — and not for long, he said.
”The party has lost all its popular support. The end is near.” — Sapa