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The IFP in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature notes the statement by the ANC, wherein it celebrates the arrest of an IFP PR Councillor allegedly involved in the violence that erupted in the KwaNyavu Area, in uMkhambathini, during the 2021 local government elections.

First and foremost, the IFP wants to unequivocally state that it does not condone any form of violence. The IFP is firm on matters of discipline and the type of personal conduct expected from its members. Further, with regards to this matter, the IFP will wait for the law to take its course, rather than resorting to unnecessary public spats with ANC.

However, it is an insult and provocation of the highest order to call an IFP member a warlord. This opens old wounds, as ANC combatants in the 1980s went on a killing spree in the dead of the night, killing IFP members and innocent people in black-on-black violence.

The IFP wants to state that we find it disingenuous for the ANC to portray the IFP as a violent party, while portraying the ANC as innocent of any association with violence.

It is on public record that due to intra-party fighting, ANC members have been arrested following violence against their ANC comrades, such as Sindiso Magaqa the former ANCYL Secretary General and uMzimkhulu Councillor, who was shot in 2017. More recently, the ANC's Councillor in Ward 54 in eThekwini Metro, Themba Mnguni, appeared in court on a triple murder charge and five counts of attempted murder. The charges are related to a drive-by shooting in Inanda, where ANC members were shot and killed, and others injured.

The ANC must stop being hypocrites.

The IFP want to offer some advice to the ANC: stop attacking the IFP and rather go and address the issues caused by the incompetence of ANC comrades. The ANC must go to uMsunduzi, where they failed to provide Jika Joe informal dwellers with decent housing, as well as addressing the issue of water shortages in the Ugu District.

Unkept promises like these have become the hallmark of the ANC’s tenure in government since ascending to power in KZN. In 1994, the ANC offered false hope to people under its slogan "better life for all”, which has now been shown to be "better life for ANC cadres". Similarly, in 2014, the ANC said, "Moving South Africa Forward”, which instead has been revealed as, "Moving public funds into our own pockets” through corruption.

A clean-up effort is currently underway - spearheaded by the IFP - in all the municipalities that were governed by the ANC before the 2021 local government elections, and which are now governed by the IFP.

These broken promises are a disappointment to the people and an embarrassment to the ANC. In stark contrast, the IFP is working tirelessly to fast-track service delivery to the people where it governs. 

Issued by IFP KZN Provincial Spokesperson for Community Safety and Liaison in the KZN Legislature Blessed Gwala