Durban — Premier-elect Thami Ntuli says he is leaving the King Cetshwayo District Municipality and the South African Local Government Association (Salga), where he was the mayor and provincial chairperson respectively, with “pride and honour” as he readies himself for higher office.
He landed in the provincial government driver’s seat after the Government of National Unity (GNU), which emerged after multi-party dialogue nationally and his party, the IFP, the ANC, DA and NFP banded together and elected him. His mission is to cleanse the province of “laziness” among public servants and poor service delivery.
He said he would use his Salga experience to turn around poor-performing municipalities such as eThekwini and Msunduzi.
Ntuli, who was born and bred in Nkandla, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, where he spent most of his youth herding his family’s livestock, has been a teacher, a school principal, and a unionist under the banner of the IFPaligned National Teachers Union.
He obtained his various qualifications in education from the Rand Afrikaans University, the University of KwaZulu-Natal, and the University of Pretoria. Before that, he worked as a shopkeeper and a security guard.
Ntuli was also proud of the IFP’s performance in the Nkandla Municipality where he was a mayor for 10 years before going to King Cetshwayo. He said under his helm former president Jacob Zuma’s home town “was the cleanest”.
He wants the members of his cabinet to toe the line and respect the appointment of Zululand District Municipality mayor Thulasizwe Buthelezi as King Misuzulu’s prime minister. On several occasions, the ANC provincial leadership has indicated that it did not accept the king’s decision to appoint Buthelezi.
Residents of KwaZulu-Natal can expect fireworks at the provincial parliament as the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) says it rejects Ntuli’s election, adding that the process resulted from the rigged general elections.
Ntuli said the Zuma-led MKP, which scored 45.35% of the provincial votes ahead of the IFP, ANC, DA and NFP, did not have authority in the province. He said the GNU partners, who together received 48.98% of the provincial votes, carried more weight.
MKP spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said while the party’s 37 MPLs subjected themselves to the swearing-in process on Friday, this did not mean that Ntuli’s administration was legitimate.
“It is worth noting that the MKP is there (at the provincial parliament) because of the wish of the people who gave it a majority vote.
“It is the people of KZN that rejected the DA, ANC and all other parties and supported MKP with 45% of the votes, which we know was rigged and not a true reflection.
“That so-called coalition is the representation of the fraudulent outcome of the elections that were not free and fair, that has robbed the people of KZN their right to have the party of their choice to govern,” he said.
He said MKP, which he called “the people of KZN”, would not take Ntuli’s election lightly “when the likes of the IFP were going along with white people for their own benefit”.
“What has happened here (at the provincial legislature) is the influence of the white monopoly capital separating black people for their own personal gains of which the same leaders of the political parties made decisions based on positions and personal wealth and enrichment. It is a conglomerate of rejects who don’t deserve to govern.”
He said the elections were designed to yield the ANC’s GNU.
Sunday Tribune