By Johnathan Paoli
KwaZulu-Natal’s governing coalition parties played down the National Freedom Party’s (NFP) withdrawal from the Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) on Thursday, saying the administration remained in place despite the coalition losing its one-seat majority in the 80-member legislature.
The NFP announced this week it would leave the GPU with immediate effect and instructed its only MPL and Social Development MEC, Mbali Shinga, to resign from the provincial executive by 9 am on Thursday. Shinga refused and is currently undergoing a disciplinary hearing because of that decision.
The coalition, initially comprising the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), African National Congress (ANC), Democratic Alliance (DA) and the NFP, elected the IFP’s Thami Ntuli as premier after provincial elections in 2024.
With the NFP exiting, the ANC-IFP-DA bloc will hold 40 seats, equal to half the chamber, leaving it short of the 41-seat working majority it previously relied on.
But ANC KwaZulu-Natal provincial coordinator Michael Mabuyakhulu rejected suggestions that the NFP’s departure automatically endangered the provincial administration.
“With the alleged withdrawal of the NFP from the GPU and the call for the resignation of MEC Shinga, the leading coalition of the ANC, the Inkatha Freedom Party and the Democratic Alliance would stand at 40 members.
This means the other parties would not enjoy the required majority to collapse the provincial government. Therefore, the GPU remains in place and committed to serving the people of KwaZulu-Natal,” Mabuyakhulu said.
The Democratic Alliance said it would continue working with its coalition partners.
“If the NFP does succeed in removing Mbali Shinga, then you’ve got a hung province. It certainly doesn’t, at this point, mean that there’s a change in government,” DA KwaZulu-Natal leader Francois Rodgers said.
IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa also dismissed the NFP’s move as unlikely to change how the province is run, warning that brinkmanship could undermine service delivery.
“The withdrawal of the NFP from the GPU does not bring any change, because the status quo will remain. If you create a deadlock as a political party, you are not interested in progress,” Hlabisa said.
Shinga’s position has been a hot potato inside the NFP, following clashes over the party’s stance on last year’s failed motion of no confidence in the premier.
The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) welcomed the NFP’s withdrawal and renewed its criticism of the GPU’s formation, saying it had been designed to block parties that should have led the executive in the province.
EFF provincial spokesperson Chris Msibi said the GPU had been designed to sideline parties that, in his view, represented the majority will of voters, particularly the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP).
Msibi also labelled the coalition a “devil agreement” that had failed to deliver meaningful service delivery and accused its partners of being more focused on excluding rivals than addressing the province’s challenges.
The EFF, which has two seats in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, said it supported strict party discipline and remained open to alternative governing arrangements, particularly with what it termed “black progressive parties” as political negotiations continued.
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