Durban — The ANC/EFF/NFP coalition’s chances of unseating the IFP in the close to 20 hung municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal appear to be slim.
This is after the Pietermaritzburg High Court ruled against an urgent application that was filed by a faction of the NFP that supported the coalition on Monday. The application was brought by Bhekumthetho Mavundla who was elected as deputy president in the NFP conference that took place in Ulundi in 2019, which was set aside by the court in 2021.
Mavundla wanted the court to set aside the Interim National Executive Committee which was established after the conference was set aside but the court ruled that there was no urgency and the matter was postponed.
This effectively meant that the new NFP deputy mayor of Nongoma Local Municipality Mshangane Ndabandaba, who was elected after councillors agreed to work with the IFP, will remain in his position.
Ndabandaba’s election last week was supported by the faction led by two party MPs, Christopher Sibisi and Shaik Emam. The two were cited as respondents in Monday’s case.
The faction that supported working with the ANC, which is led by Canaan Mdletshe who was elected as the secretary-general in the Ulundi conference, rejected Ndabandaba’s election.
Mdletshe told the Daily News on Monday that the party did not recognise Ndabandaba’s election as the deputy mayor since the party did not have a coalition relationship with the IFP.
He said the leadership would meet on Tuesday to discuss the matter and see how to deal with what Nongoma councillors have done.
“We are meeting tomorrow to tackle all these issues including what happened in Nongoma,” said Mdletshe.
On Monday, Ndabandaba questioned Mdletshe’s status in the party and said he only recognised Interim National Executive Committee (Inec) and since it had not said anything about his election as deputy mayor, he would continue doing his work.
He added that in terms of Section 11 of the NFP’s constitution, councillors in any municipality could decide on their own which party they wished to work with.
He was supported by Inec spokesperson Teddy Thwala who said the Inec would not interfere with Nongoma councillors’ decision since they exercised their rights as stipulated by Section 11 of the party’s constitution.
In terms of our constitution, the Nongoma caucus was right, so Ndabandaba is the legitimate deputy mayor.
The latest developments raised questions about the legitimacy of the ANC/ NFP coalition in the province. The NFP’s problems are further compounded by the Electoral Commission of SA’s decision to bar the party from firing and filling any vacant council seats until it had sorted out its leadership squabbles.
KZN ANC spokesperson Mafika Mndebele believed the NFP factional battles were affecting their coalition, adding that it was possible that there was a faction that was talking to the IFP while the ANC was negotiating with another faction.
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