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The ANC’s push to dislodge the IFP in KwaZulu-Natal’s Nongoma Municipality has suffered a heavy blow, as National Freedom Party (NFP) councillors in the municipality have resolved that they would no longer work with the governing party.
This comes as both the ANC and NFP leaders were hard at work in a bid to restore their soured coalition deal, which has seen the two parties sharing power and keeping the IFP and other parties out of governance in various hung municipalities in the province.
READ: ANC coalition partner in KZN feels undermined
The fractured relations between the ANC and the NFP have become an immediate threat to the plan by the ANC-NFP-EFF block’s ambitious plans to oust the IFP from various hung municipalities, which the IFP had secured through its former partnership with the red berets.
While the NFP national and provincial met over the weekend, and discussed the future of their power-sharing agreements in various provinces with the ANC, no agreement has been reached and individual caucuses and councillors continue charting their own paths as the embattled party’s leadership was seen as being unable to provide proper guidance.
The NFP controls 14 of the 45 seats in Nongoma, making it its biggest caucus in the province and the second-biggest political party in council after the IFP.
NFP Nongoma caucus leader and deputy mayor Mshangane Ndabandaba said NFP councillors were within their rights to reject the ANC as it had failed to assist them in servicing their communities in the deeply contested municipality, despite being in charge of the provincial government.
Ndabandaba said the councillors were not concerned by the recent Pietermaritzburg High Court ruling that effectively installed him back as a mayor, alongside the EFF’s Sabelo Nkosi as deputy mayor and the ANC’s Babongile Sithole as Speaker, as he said the NFP councillors were now seeking a better working relationship with the IFP to ensure stability in the municipality instead of pushing to remove it.
READ: IFP ‘stalled’ no confidence motions
The Nongoma municipality had approached the court for interim relief in March after being ousted by the ANC-NFP-EFF coalition. The court reaffirmed the council meeting that ousted IFP mayor Albert Mncwango and Speaker Bheki Zulu. Ndabandaba said:
He accused the ANC of having failed to use its control of the provincial government to help NFP ward councillors to fast-track service delivery.
“What we complained about, besides personal interests, was that we were not getting enough support from the IFP-led government in Nongoma. The ANC runs the provincial government and has departments and we asked it to assist us so that we can also shine in our wards, but they failed us. So, we have sat down now and decided on what will help us and those who voted for us,” he said.
Ndabandaba also blasted the NFP senior leadership as he said it had failed to provide clear direction to councillors due to deep divisions that continued to destroy the party, which was also running the risk of not being able to contest next year’s elections due to power battles that have seen the IEC deciding not to recognise any of its warring factions.
He said the party’s leaders were destroying the troubled party, which he said was the reason behind the revolt by councillors. He added:
Several NFP councillors across hung municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, including in Zululand, eMadlangeni, Umhlathuze and Umhlabuyalingana, were openly defying the ANC/NFP cooperation agreement and were voting with the IFP.
While NFP secretary-general Canaan Mdletshe insisted that the party was yet to take a final decision on the push to terminate its relations with the ANC, he admitted that it was difficult to deal with the Nongoma caucus and its defiance as its concerns were valid and known.
“The issue of Nongoma is very sensitive. It needs us to further discuss and address through negotiations in order to resolve,” Mdletshe said.
In a surprise move, Zulu has called for a council meeting on June 30, a move which has been slammed as illegal by opposition parties, as he had been replaced by Sithole.
ANC provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo said the party had resolved to keep its end of the bargain with NFP councillors who continued to respect their working relationship with the governing party.
READ: IFP to approach the court over removal from Nongoma, while NFP takes up the reins
“These NFP councillors were the ones who were most fed up with the IFP when we formed this coalition. They just need to be honest about the real reason for their sudden change to not want to work with us. We are not in a textbook coalition but one about service delivery, but we are not going to bend processes and the law and governance and the ANC to keep coalitions,” Mtolo said.
Mtolo added the NFP’s inability to deal with councillors who were going rogue and making personal deals with the IFP was to blame for the troubles faced by the coalition across municipalities.
He said the ANC’s ability to form new coalitions with other parties and push the IFP out in Umvoti and Dannhauser municipalities was proof that its plan to push the party out of power was not severely affected by the brewing hostility from the NFP.
NFP eThekwini councillor and deputy mayor Zandile Myeni, who was also the party’s provincial secretary, has been vocal in her opposition to the rebellion by other councillors who pushed for the NFP to work with the IFP.
Several NFP councillors have admitted that the deep divisions within the party placed it at a major risk of not contesting next year’s general elections.
