The Umkhonto Wesizwe Party (MKP) in KwaZulu-Natal is forging ahead with its plans for a motion of no confidence against Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli. And party insiders claim that the ANC and the EFF will be brought on board to form a new coalition government in the province.
In the proposed new provincial government, the ANC would be allocated four cabinet positions. It currently holds three in the government of provincial unity. And it would be permitted to retain the position of speaker.
According to MKP sources in the province, the position of deputy speaker currently occupied by the DA’s Mmabatho Tembe would be given to a candidate of the EFF.
Furthermore, the EFF, which has two seats and has been siding with the MKP in the provincial legislature, would also get a cabinet position.
Treading carefully with EFF
“We are still in talks with the parties we want on board, but that is the plan for now. We will take the premiership and four cabinet positions just like the IFP did. The seat of the NFP (National Freedom Party) will be given to the EFF. But we are not sure whether they will accept our offer or not, since our relationship is strained at national level,” one source of the MKP told Sunday World.
Chairperson of the EFF in the province, Mongezi Thwala, said they have not received anything formal from the MK Party.
“There’s nothing from MK as yet, but corridor talks, which are not formal at all. Basically, there’s nothing,” Thwala said.
Spokesperson of the ANC in the province, Fable Sibisi, referred Sunday World to a recent comment made by the coordinator of the provincial task team, Mike Mabuyakhulu. He made the comment when he was asked whether the party would walk out of the GPU or not, as asked by the ANC Youth League.
In it, Mabuyakhulu said the decision by the IFP to oust its district mayor in Umkhanyakude was a “defining moment in our relations”. And they have to discuss certain issues.
ANC sketchy with details
“And I will not go into the issues until such time as we have been able to deal with them. So, the point of departure is the ANC knows why we were part of the government of provincial unity. We are saying as the ANC the reasons that actually led us to be part of the government of provincial unity still remains.
“However, the ANC Youth League, in particular, has a point that it makes. And the point that we have made as the ANC is that we can never allow any partner that we are governing together in the government of provincial unity to weaponise any element of the government of provincial unity,” Mabuyakhulu said in part.
Chairperson of the MK Party in the province, Willies Mchunu, did not comment when Sunday World asked him about the matter.
However, on Thursday, the party’s leader, Jacob Zuma, would brief the media in Durban. He is widely expected to shed more light on the motion.
The mooted move comes after last week, when the leader of the ANC’s splinter party, Inkosi Phathisizwe Chiliza, filed the motion with Speaker Nontembeko Boyce, saying under Premier Thami Ntuli’s leadership, the office of the premier has essentially lost integrity.
He then asked Boyce that when the motion is finally debated on a date yet to be determined, members of the provincial legislature (MPLs) should be allowed to vote secretly so that the integrity of the process is not compromised.
