By Celani Sikhakhane
- The High Court on Friday ordered the NFP to reinstate Mbali Shinga as KZN chairperson, MPL and Social Development MEC.
- Lawyer Sithembiso Mbhele rejected the NFP’s new suspension letter as invalid and warned the party it will face court action.
The Pietermaritzburg High Court reinstated Mbali Shinga to her party and her government role on Friday. Three days later, the NFP suspended her again.
Shinga is the NFP’s KwaZulu-Natal chairperson and the province’s Social Development MEC. The High Court granted an interim interdict on Friday blocking her expulsion, restoring her party membership, her seat in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature and her MEC position. The court also ordered the Speaker to reverse any steps already taken to remove her.
The NFP’s National Executive Committee responded on Monday with a fresh suspension letter, telling Shinga the National General Conference had no power to appeal the National Working Committee’s decision and giving her until 27 June to appeal the latest suspension.
Her lawyer, Sithembiso Mbhele, rejected the letter. He said Shinga is protected by a prohibitory interdict that bars the NFP from taking any further disciplinary or removal steps until all outstanding legal reviews are completed. The party’s move, he said, ignores a binding court order.
A second dispute has now opened up. The NFP’s letter told Shinga she could not bring her lawyer to the appeals hearing. Mbhele said his team will not accept that.
“We are not going to allow that. No one will take away our client’s constitutional rights to legal representation. We are writing to the NWC to reject that. We will give them options that either she comes with her legal representative, or we go back to court,” Mbhele said.
He also said the party’s letter gave no clarity on what Shinga was even being asked to appeal, adding that she had already challenged the appointment of the appeals hearing chairperson, who was appointed without her knowledge before the dismissal verdict was issued.
In a counter-move, NFP National Chairperson Sibusiso Mkhabela issued a letter suspending party president Ivan Barnes. Barnes dismissed it as invalid.
Meanwhile, allies of Shinga have distanced her from the African Restoration Movement, a new party formed by Nokwanda Mdunge, a former NFP leader from the dissolved 2019 structure once led by the late Canaan Mdletshe. Former NFP secretary general Teddy Thwala said Shinga has no relationship with Mdunge and remains loyal to the NFP.
The ARM is the fifth party to break away from the NFP since it was founded in 2011 by the late Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi.
Pictured above: NFP KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Mbali Shinga, who was reinstated by the High Court on Friday before being suspended again by the party three days later.
Image source: File
