By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) on Wednesday made an about-turn and announced a governance pact with ANC in hung municipalities in the province.
IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa made the announcement at a media briefing in Durban.
The agreement was secured after talks between the ANC’s top leadership — including President Cyril Ramaphosa — and the IFP top brass, including its president emeritus,Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
According to the agreement, the ANC will take over control of municipalities where it has the majority of votes. The same thing would happen in hung councils where the IFP has the majority of votes.
“We’ll support the principle of the two largest parties becoming the government and official opposition respectively. Accordingly, where the IFP governs, the ANC will become the official opposition and vice versa,” Hlabisa said.
He stressed that the agreement with the ANC did not mean that they were coalition partners.
“A coalition places both parties in power with the sharing of positions. What we are doing is allowing the party with the most votes to govern while the other party is relegated to the opposition,” Hlabisa said.
Hlabisa said the IFP and the ANC would remain political opponents, but “opponents who have agreed to operate on the same principles for the sake of securing stability in local governance”.
The ANC provincial executive committee (PEC) is expected to discuss the agreement — which has been endorsed by the IFP’s top body, its national council — only on Thursday.
Although the agreement falls short of being a coalition, it will see the IFP back ANC mayoral candidates to prevent a deadlock in hung councils and to allow governance to take place.
Meanwhile the DA in KwaZulu-Natal has been left red-faced by the sudden decision of the IFP to allow the ANC free rein to form governments in hung municipalities where it holds majority seats.
Francois Rodgers, the leader of the DA in KwaZulu-Natal, is having none of it, saying “the surprise turnaround by the IFP is not unexpected”.
Rodgers said the DA’s negotiating mandate was to support the IFP and in return requested to hold the position of MPAC in those councils. This would have afforded the DA the opportunity to monitor and ensure effective and clean governance. Obviously, this proposal would have exposed the IFP in those municipalities where governance has failed.
Obviously, this proposal would have exposed the IFP in those municipalities where governance has failed. The DA finds it strange that the leader of the IFP publicly announced that they would under no circumstances form any coalition with the ANC.
He said that DA will now field Mayoral candidates in KZN’s hung municipalities including eThekwini and Msunduzi. This will now force the IFP and ANC coalition to show its hand in the election of these positions. Voters who voted for the IFP and ANC will see for themselves the fake campaigns run by both these parties.