Durban — IFP members have called for a special internal meeting to be convened on Wednesday.
Certain members in KwaZulu-Natal are pushing for amendments to a resolution barring current councillors from being nominated for Parliament and legislature seats if the party wins the province in next year’s general elections.
The matter is said to top the agenda signed by 20 national council members. According to the faction that supports president Velenkosini Hlabisa, rumours are that a petition was signed to block him from becoming a premier if the IFP wins.
Most of the people who signed the petition are known to be anti-Hlabisa. Party insiders who spoke to the Daily News on condition of anonymity said a list had been drawn up in the IFP for MEC positions, with councillors being left behind. A source said the resolution proved to be a stumbling block to their dreams.
The source said the reason for the postponement of Monday’s meeting was that Hlabisa called the usual national executive council meeting.
“Although there is no agenda in the announcement for the meeting, we know there are two major issues on the agenda, and one of them is to amend this resolution to pave the way for their nomination to go to the legislature. We know there is a list of people who have already been allocated MEC positions. It is very strange that while we are still chasing the buck, there are people who have already skinned it and shared its parts before the dogs could catch it,” said the source.
Explaining the logic behind the resolution, the source said the party was concerned about instability in the municipalities that was always caused by councillors who had to vacate their seats to take up seats in Parliament and the legislature. Councillors’ departure meant that there should be by-elections and a change of mayors.
The source said that the resolution left room for special circumstances, as happened to Hlabisa, who had to vacate his seat in Hlabisa Local Municipality to take the position as the leader of the caucus in the provincial legislature, since he was the president of the party.
The Daily News has seen the list and the people who signed requesting the special meeting. Hlabisa referred queries to IFP national spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa.
Hlengwa confirmed that there were members of the national council who petitioned the party secretary requesting a meeting. Hlengwa said those members were expected to give points that would form an agenda, but since they had not done so he would not want to speculate on why they asked for a special meeting.
On the rumours that the members want the party to amend the said resolution, Hlengwa said he would not want to comment on any speculation. Hlengwa said that since the resolution was a conference decision, any changes to it would have to be taken to the conference for approval.
Although he confirmed that the national council was a decision-making body in between conferences, he refused to be drawn on whether the structure would amend the resolution, saying the internal party process would determine the way forward.
If the resolution remains in force it might have a bearing on the current councillors becoming legislature members, including party provincial chairperson Thami Ntuli who is a King Cetshwayo District Municipality mayor, unless his matter was treated as a special circumstance. The source said that even if Ntuli went to Parliament he would want his confidantes to be with him.
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