https://www.polity.org.za
Deepening Democracy through Access to Information
Home / News / South African News RSS ← Back
Close

Email this article

separate emails by commas, maximum limit of 4 addresses

Sponsored by

Close

Article Enquiry

ANC wins IFP support in KZN from right under EFF's nose

Close

Embed Video

ANC wins IFP support in KZN from right under EFF's nose

Inkatha Freedom Party logo

17th November 2021

By: News24Wire

SAVE THIS ARTICLE      EMAIL THIS ARTICLE

Font size: -+

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) on Wednesday announced that it was entered into an agreement with the African National Congress (ANC) in the 21 hung KwaZulu-Natal councils. 

IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa said, while his party had announced last week that it would not be going into coalitions with the ANC, talks with other smaller parties and a broader look at the voting patterns in the province in hung municipalities had made the party change its mind.

Advertisement

"What we experienced in many of the discussions we held over hung municipalities was not encouraging. Some political parties appeared to see themselves as kingmakers and felt entitled to make difficult demands.

"Some wanted the mayoral chain, others wanted to be speaker. At a fundamental level, this would be a manipulation of democracy, for these positions they want were not fairly won through the ballot box," he said.

Advertisement

"In KwaZulu-Natal, it is clear that voters in each municipality predominantly chose either the IFP or the ANC, with the exception of Umngeni where the DA was the majority choice. Despite there not being an outright majority in some municipalities, either the IFP gained the most seats or the ANC did.

"Thus, after frank discussions at national level with the ANC, we have come to a broad understanding that where the IFP has the most seats, despite no outright majority, the IFP will form the municipal government. Reciprocally, where the ANC has the most seats, despite no outright majority, the ANC will form the municipal government," said Hlabisa. 

Principle

He assured IFP voters that "neither party [the IFP or ANC] will interfere in this process, and will support the principle of the two largest parties becoming the government and official opposition respectively". 

Hlabisa’s announcement came only a day after EFF leader Julius Malema announced during his party’s media briefing that they had agreed in principle to enter into coalitions with the IFP. 

Malema spoke about how the ANC would not regain control of the eThekwini municipality, after it lost its outright majority. 

He added that the EFF had contributed to the ANC's loss of eThekwini and the other 20 municipalities in the province. 

The ANC said its national executive committee (NEC) members had worked hard to convince the IFP to end its stance on not working with it in the province. 

"ANC NEC members have been in talks with the IFP since the outcomes of the results came out, and are still in talks even at this point. At some point, even the President Cyril Ramaphosa was roped in when talks seemed to be heading towards a deadlock," said a senior provincial ANC member.

They added that what the ANC had promised to accelerate strides towards ensuring that the two parties finally get back to a point where they were one party. 

"With the ANC’s performance in the province during these elections, and the looming 2024 elections, forming one party with a party that is eating up most of our support would actually work in our favour.

"Plus, the ANC made it known to the IFP that, should it join forces with the EFF, it would make things hard for itself for such a time as it will again to join the ANC, as it would have given Malema’s party a platform to eat at both of our support," said the ANC member. 

EMAIL THIS ARTICLE      SAVE THIS ARTICLE

To subscribe email subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za or click here
To advertise email advertising@creamermedia.co.za or click here

Comment Guidelines

About

Polity.org.za is a product of Creamer Media.
www.creamermedia.co.za

Other Creamer Media Products include:
Engineering News
Mining Weekly
Research Channel Africa

Read more

Subscriptions

We offer a variety of subscriptions to our Magazine, Website, PDF Reports and our photo library.

Subscriptions are available via the Creamer Media Store.

View store

Advertise

Advertising on Polity.org.za is an effective way to build and consolidate a company's profile among clients and prospective clients. Email advertising@creamermedia.co.za

View options
Free daily email newsletter Register Now