Tensions escalate: KZN provincial task team spokesperson Fanle Sibisi and coordinator Mike Mabuyakhulu. Photo: Sandile Motha
The gloves are off and the battle lines are drawn in the KwaZulu-Natal coalition government, with the ANC asserting that it will not be forced into submission by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the Democratic Alliance (DA).
The hostilities reached boiling point on Wednesday when the former governing party unleashed a tirade accusing its two coalition partners of ganging up against it.
The second-biggest province in the country in terms of vote share has been co-governed by the ANC, IFP, DA and the National Freedom Party, which banded together after last year’s general elections to muscle out former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.
Just a few months old at the time, the MK party had garnered just over 45% of the provincial vote, making it the biggest party in KwaZulu-Natal by that measure.
At the heart of the schism between the coalition partners is a pronouncement by finance MEC and DA provincial leader Francois Rodgers that the department of transport and human settlements, led by former ANC KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Siboniso Duma, was struggling with corruption and malfeasance.
Rodgers said the severity of the problem left him with no choice but to consider invoking section 18 of the Public Finance Management Act placing it under technical administration, meaning it can no longer use funds without approval from Rodgers’ office.
The ANC pushed back through its provincial task team coordinator Mike Mabuyakhulu, who said Rodgers’ action “cannot be left unchallenged because at its core is how the government of provincial unity should function”.
“It is clear political targeting of the ANC-run departments,” he told a media briefing this week, noting a similar move by Rodgers with the KwaZulu-Natal department of education, whose political principal is the ANC’s Sipho Hlomuka.
The education department was stripped of its powers after bungling a scholar transport tender and allegations of corruption and mismanagement in a school nutrition contract where suppliers were linked to ANC members.
But Mabuyakhulu said the DA, with just 11% of the support in the province, could not behave as if it had an outright majority.
“We are in the GPU [government of provincial unity] with other parties. We are paying respect to those parties. We equally expect those parties to pay respect to the ANC.
“None among our partners in the GPU should use the GPU against one another and weaponise the position they hold,” he said.
Asked for comment, the DA labelled Mabuyakhulu’s comments political opportunism.
“What Francois is doing is to ensure compliance in terms of the legislation. When you look at the department of education, when they needed money, they ran to Francois Rodgers’s office and he gave them R900 million to pay for its norms and standards,” DA KwaZulu-Natal deputy leader Sithembiso Ngema said.
“When you look at the department of transport, led by MEC Duma of the ANC, they couldn’t pay suppliers and they ran to Francois Rodgers’s office and he had to source the additional funds,” it said.
“On the DA side, we’re doing what we’re supposed to be doing to ensure that the money goes to community services as we promised when we joined the GPU. We will continue to ensure accountability and that the province is free from those who believe they can just use public funds to benefit their comrades.”
The ANC also had a bone to pick with the IFP’s Thulasizwe Buthelezi, MEC for cooperative governance and traditional affairs, saying his move to place the ANC-run uMkhanyakude district municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal under administration was unlawful and reckless.
“The imposition and continued presence of the so-called ministerial representative, Mr Bamba Ndwandwe, continues to disrupt the smooth running of the municipality,” Mabuyakhulu said.
“The presence of this imposed intruder meant the municipality cannot access its bank account. It cannot pay workers’ salaries, its service providers and honour its daily service delivery commitment.”
The skirmishes between the IFP and the ANC in the district council, covering mainly rural towns, has affected service delivery, with water being cut off in some places.