KZN coalition government here to stay, differences being ironed out, insists ANC

4 Nov 2024

The ANC called a press briefing on Monday to quell speculation that the government of provincial unity was on the rocks. However, it said it was not happy with a number of issues.

The KwaZulu-Natal coalition government — also known as the Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) – is safe… for now, the ANC KZN leadership said during a press conference held in Durban on Monday.

Read more: KZN coalition government on shaky ground as MK looks to muscle in

Recently, the MK party has upped its tempo in the attempt to wrest control of the province from the GPU partners. Last week the uMkhonto Wesizwe party (MK) appointed former (ANC) KZN premier Willies Mchunu, and tasked him to initiate talks with potential partners to form an MK party-led KZN government. Talks are said to have taken place until this weekend.

But on Monday the ANC in KZN denied that it was planning to dump the GPU in favour of a governing alliance with the MK party.

ANC KZN provincial leadership — flanked by its alliance partners — told journalists that although the party was not happy with a number of issues affecting the provincial government, it was nevertheless fully committed to continue its participation in this government. But it said its leaders were engaging its governing partners in the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the DA and the National Freedom Party (NFP) to iron out these differences.

ANC KZN provincial leader Siboniso Duma told journalists that his party was particularly unhappy with the conduct of Thulasizwe Buthelezi, the IFP’s MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs and prime minister of the Zulu nation, whom he accused of being “a loose cannon” and of working against the cooperation agreement. He said they were also against DA leaders in government, but they enjoyed a “healthy” working relationship with the kingmaker NFP.

Duma said the GPU was here to stay for the remainder of the five-year term.

“There are pockets of achievements that are a clear indication that proves that we are winning in terms of attainments of the objectives of the NDR (national democratic revolution) in this current phase. There are challenges, but we must stress that we now have a working formula, and we must emphasise on that point that as the ANC we are committed to working collectively with other parties in the GPU to strengthen this working formula in the interest of the voters,” Duma said.

‘GPU arrangement defied’

Bheki Mtolo, ANC KZN provincial secretary, said they had asked the IFP to deal with the excesses of MEC Buthelezi, whom he accused of thinking that “he is bigger and above the GPU” and of defying the GPU arrangement protocols by “targeting ANC-led municipalities and ANC deployees in government”. He also accused the KZN Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC of defying the IFP leadership and promoting his own personal political brand and career at the expense of the agreements that bind the GPU partners together.

He also said the DA was using its position to censure ANC deployees. The two parties have also sharply differed in the KwaDukuza Local Municipality, where the ANC recently voted out its own mayor, Lindile Nhaca, and the DA has stuck to the argument that it will not support any ANC measure until the Tshwane Metro debacle where DA mayor Cilliers Brink was last month voted out by an ANC-led vote of no-confidence.

“Sometimes the DA comes up with odd pronouncements even in cases where they don’t know that they don’t have powers. In KwaDukuza, for example, we don’t care what the DA does. They’ve said they will not cooperate with the ANC until Brink has been reinstated in Tshwane. But tomorrow, there will be a vote for the mayor in KwaDukuza and the ANC does not need the DA to vote for that mayor,” Mtolo said.

Professor Musa Xulu, a retired academic and founder of the Indonsa political and social think tank, said it was an open secret that there were talks between the ANC and the MK party, but it was too soon for the ANC to announce a complete pull-out from the GPU at this stage, and that it had deciding instead to consolidate its muscle in that government.

Chaos

“If they had done that it would have created chaos in the province and it would have created chaos even within their own (ANC) ranks. Talks with the MK are ongoing and we don't know what the outcomes of those negotiations will be. I think what the ANC did was throw a first salvo at the DA and also isolated Buthelezi from the IFP, which I think was very strategic on their part,” Xulu said.

He added: “What the ANC has done today (Monday, 4 November 2024) is signalling that it is shifting slightly to prepare the ground for whatever decision it might have to take in the near future with regard to its participation in the KZN GPU.” DM

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South Africa

‘GPU arrangement defied’

Chaos