By Celani Sikhakhane
- KZN Legislature Speaker Nontembeko Boyce has declared the NFP’s seat vacant, following a Pietermaritzburg High Court order to replace Mbali Shinga with party president Ivan Barnes.
- The single NFP seat is the deciding vote in the province’s coalition; Barnes has previously supported efforts to remove Premier Thami Ntuli.
The Government of Provincial Unity in KwaZulu-Natal now depends entirely on one man, after Mbali Shinga was formally removed from the KZN Legislature to make way for NFP president Ivan Barnes.
On Wednesday, KZN Legislature Speaker Nontembeko Boyce informed NFP leadership that the party’s seat had been declared vacant to make way for Barnes. This follows a Pietermaritzburg High Court order instructing Boyce to replace Shinga with Barnes.
“In compliance with this court order, please be advised that I declare the seat held by the NFP vacant. I will be further facilitating the swearing in of the next candidate on the NFP reviewed candidate list,” Boyce said.
Shinga had fought hard against both her expulsion from the NFP and her removal from the Legislature. Her troubles began in December last year, when she refused to support a motion of no confidence against Premier Thami Ntuli, brought by MKP, a decision that angered Barnes and exposed a deep rift within the party.
The stakes are significant. The NFP holds just a single seat in the KZN Legislature, but that seat has been the deciding vote keeping the IFP-led coalition, made up of the IFP, ANC and DA, in power. Shinga’s refusal to back the no-confidence motion in December was what blocked MKP’s own bid to take over the provincial government at the time.
With Barnes now set to take that seat himself, the coalition’s future is far less certain. Barnes has previously called for Ntuli’s removal as Premier, and at one point announced the NFP was withdrawing from the coalition altogether to sit in opposition, ruling out working with MKP or the EFF. Whether that position still holds now that Barnes is about to take up the seat himself remains to be seen.
Pictured above: NFP President Ivan Rowan Barnes, set to be sworn in after Mbali Shinga was removed from the KZN Legislature.
Image source: Celani Sikhakhane
