Following days of speculation on a controversial ANC-DA coalition, the IFP has finally let the cat out of the bag.
The IFP has confirmed that the party is joining a ANC-DA coalition. The coalition could see the ANC split even further.
At a media briefing on Wednesday the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) said that the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party did reach out to them to discuss a possible coalition government in KwaZulu-Natal, when their party members arrived for meeting, they were left waiting for more than four hours.
IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa, confirmed that they accepted the MK Party’s invite to discuss a possibility of co-governing in KZN.
“However, MKP leaders failed to honour the meeting. Our team waited for two hours,” Hlabisa said.
“Our national spokesperson, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, stayed and waited another two hours and no one came,” Hlabisa said, adding that the door is still open to talks with the MKP.
“The IFP has confirmed it's willingness to join that government of provincial unity. In addition, as I have outlined before, the IFP will join a GNU that includes the ANC and DA,” he said.
Meanwhile, expelled uMkhonto weSizwe (MKP) founder Jabulani Khumalo has no chance of winning back his position as leader of the party after the Electoral Court rejected his bid to be reinstated on Wednesday.
The court dismissed his case, with costs, following his attempt to have the Electoral Commission of South Africa’s (IEC’s) record of former president Jacob Zuma as MKP leader invalidated and set aside.
In May, Khumalo filed an urgent application with the Electoral Court against the IEC’s decision to remove him as party leader and recorded Zuma instead.
This was because he wanted the IEC to recognise him as president of MKP.
In the same vein, Khumalo allegedly had written to Zuma to inform him that he was placing him on precautionary suspension.
The specialist court handed down its judgment electronically on Wednesday, a day before the Western Cape High Court was scheduled to hear Khumalo’s matter.
The court also rejected forgery claims made by Khumalo against Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla.
In his judgment, Judge Lebogang Modiba said Khumalo’s application was “frivolous and completely devoid of merit”.
“It is unclear why Mr Khumalo persisted with the application because, in his case on urgency, it has become moot. As contended on behalf of the respondents, this application should not have seen the light of day.”
However, it is unlikely that Khumalo will go down without a fight after he and his lawyers approached the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday, seeking to be reinstated as leader of the party he helped to form last September.
This matter will be heard by the court today, a day before Parliament conducts the swearing-in of MPs, which the MKP has interdicted and seeks to be stopped from proceeding due to allegations of vote rigging.
On Tuesday, Khumalo’s legal representatives confirmed that they had filed an urgent application with the Western Cape High Court to force Parliament to recognise him as an eligible MKP candidate.
This week, in a letter, Parliament revealed that Khumalo had been removed from his party’s candidates list after the MKP informed the legislature that he was no longer a member.
On the issue of the forging of his signature at the hands of Zuma-Sambudla, the court ruled that there was no basis for this forgery as he was the one who transferred the party’s leadership fully aware of what was happening.
The Electoral Court said: “As contended by the respondents, expert evidence is necessary to prove the allegation that the signature on JK6 is forged. It is inappropriate for counsel for Mr Khumalo to compare the two letters from the bar with reference to the writing style, formatting, letterheads and different signatures. The court places no reliance on these submissions.
“It is disconcerting that, on his version, Mr Khumalo never reverted to the commission to resolve the leadership issue to ensure that Mr Zuma’s photo is placed on the ballot paper, but accepted, without more, that Mr Zuma’s photo did in fact appear on the ballot paper.
“He only did so two weeks later, complaining of the alleged fraud perpetrated on dates that do not correspond with the communication sequence between Mr Khumalo and the commission regarding the use of Mr Zuma’s photo on the ballot paper and the date on which Ms Zuma-Sambudla sent JK6 to the commission.
The order continued to say that a punitive costs order against Khumalo is the most appropriate way of censuring his conduct and “sending a message to the public that making false statements under oath and abuse of this court’s process will not be countenanced”.
Khumalo was expelled in April after the party said it was “cleansing itself”. He was booted out with four other members.
According to the party, the move was a commitment to purify itself from rogue elements that would blur its lines to a two-thirds majority ahead of the polls.
Zuma has now replaced Khumalo as the leader and face of MKP.
Political analyst, Thobani Zikalala told The Star that Khumalo had not painted himself in glory by engaging in frivolous court applications in a bid to reclaim his position in the MK Party, knowing that he does not stand a chance to win in court.
"Khumalo has not put forward a very strong case and the MK Party has managed to take away this cloud of Jabulani Khumalo which has been hanging over them and now can forge head knowing very well that the current leadership is the legitimate leadership that can take the party forward. His court case interdicting Parliament almost falls away as a result of the Electoral Court Judgement, because it has decided on the same matter which renders whatever decision the Western Cape High Court decides as he has been declared not the leader of the party. These frivolous cases that Khumalo has lodged creates a lot of chaos at a time voters need clarity," said Zikalala.
The Star