IFP president, Velenkosi Hlabisa.
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) president Velenkosini Hlabisa has been moved to the National Assembly to take up the seat vacated by the death of party founder, Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
Hlabisa had previously stated that he preferred to remain in KwaZulu-Natal, where he had been serving as leader of the opposition, and be the premier candidate for next year’s national and provincial elections.
However the IFP’s national council on Monday decided to deploy Hlabisa to parliament, a move seemingly aimed at averting conflict between him and KwaZulu-Natal provincial chairperson Thami Ntuli over the premier candidate position.
The two had been vying for the candidacy for several months, with the subsequent tension causing a bid by 20 members of the IFP national council to force a vote of no confidence in his leadership earlier this year.
They failed, but the IFP appears to have taken heed of the tension, and its potential to derail the party’s election campaign, and removed both Hlabisa and Ntuli from the equation — at least until the party’s process to nominate who it wants to send to parliament and the legislatures early next year.
Ntuli will remain mayor of the King Cetshwayo district municipality, with IFP national chairperson Blessed Gwala, its chief whip in the legislature, taking Hlabisa’s place as leader of the opposition.
A senior IFP member, who asked not be named, said that the move was aimed at avoiding a battle over the premier candidate at a time when the party was making progress in the province.
“We don’t want people fighting over this now, when we should be focused on our campaign,” they said.
“This way the decision will be taken at the right time and through the proper process.”
The IFP member said that managing the process in this way would stop factions in the party from diverting their energies into campaigning for their preferred candidate now and “should” stop the tension from boiling over.
IFP spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa announced the movement of Hlabisa and the reshuffle in the legislature in a statement on Monday, saying the decisions had been taken to “consolidate” the party.
“The NEC [national executive committee] has taken these decisions consistent with the party’s smooth leadership transition,” Hlengwa said.
The NEC believed the changes would “take forward the legacy and life’s work of Prince Buthelezi” and “entrench party unity and consolidate the IFP’s onward march to the 2024 national and provincial elections”.
Hlabisa’s legislature seat will be taken by Reverend Musa Zondi, the former IFP secretary general, once believed to be the natural successor to Buthelezi, who left the party in 2011 due to fears he would be assassinated.
The deputy chief whip in the legislature, Thembeni kaMadlopha-Mthethwa, will act as the IFP’s chief whip.
Zondi was co-opted onto the IFP national council by Hlabisa earlier this month, along with former MP Senzo Mfayela and Prince Ntuthuko Buthelezi and Sibuyiselwe Buthelezi, children of the party founder.
Their co-option — like the reshuffle — is aimed at consolidating the party both nationally and in the province, where it hopes to regain power in next year’s elections through a coalition with the Democratic Alliance.
Both parties are involved in the Multi Party Charter for South Africa, and have a bilateral arrangement in KwaZulu-Natal which has seen them take 10 wards off the ANC in municipalities across the province since the 2021 local government elections.
They believe they can take the ANC below the 55.47% of the vote it received in 2019 and collectively secure a majority in the province, once one of the governing party’s major strongholds, but one it fears it may lose next May.
Hlabisa told the Mail & Guardian the NEC had decided to move him to the national assembly to boost the party’s profile and to assist in ensuring its growth nationally matched the progress it had made in KwaZulu-Natal over the past four years.
“The IFP has set very clear targets for itself. When we made the assessment of how we have performed over the past four years, we were of the opinion that we are right on track to achieve our goals.
“We identified the need to elevate our performance nationally, to ensure that the party performs optimally at that level next year,” he said.
“Speculation” about tension between himself and Ntuli was being orchestrated on social media and was aimed at dividing the party ahead of the elections.
“They are the work of those who want to divert our attention and focus on the main goal, to prepare for elections next year,” he said.
The issue of the premier candidate and who was deployed to parliament and the legislature would only be decided by the party after it held its policy conference in December.
An extended national council meeting will be held on Sunday to prepare for the policy conference and to take reports on the election strategy. The IFP manifesto would only be released once the election date was confirmed, while the list process would also only take place next year.
“No decision has been made as to who will be the premier candidate in 2024. It is not something that is on the table right now. At the right time we will make the decision as to who goes where. Until then, the speculation is unnecessary,” Hlabisa said.
He said the IFP had gone into a number of elections without naming premier candidates in the past, and might do the same next year, if that is the route the party decided to take.
The IFP president said he was “very excited” about his move to the National Assembly, where he was sworn in as an MP on Thursday.
“This is a new journey with new challenges at a different level.”