NFP leader Ivan Barnes and supporters of senior party member Mbali Shinga exchanged blows at Durban’s Edward Hotel on Wednesday as simmering internal tensions spilled over into threats and acts of violence.
Shinga’s disciplinary hearing over claims that she had violated the party’s instruction to vote for a motion of no confidence against KZN Premier Thami Ntuli was taking place at the hotel on Wednesday when her supporters stormed the hearing and demanded that the NEC of the NFP stop the process.
It was then that Barnes and Manqoba Dlamini, the chairperson of the party’s uThukela district, became embroiled in a fist fight with the police intervening to separate the sets of supporters.
Shinga’s supporters then left the building.
The NFP’s national executive committee (NEC) had said it will leave the KwaZulu-Natal Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) if its senior member, Shinga is not removed both as an MEC and a member of the legislature.
The NFP’s acting Secretary-General Sunset Xaba had said his party has agreed to meet with the ANC but would only return to the GPU if Shinga is removed.
Shinga a Social Development MEC under the GPU is currently undergoing a disciplinary hearing by her party and faces charges of gross misconduct, specifically for insubordination and openly defying party directives. These charges stem from her refusal to support the party’s instruction to vote for the uMkhonto weSizwe Party’s motion of no confidence against Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli. The hearing has been adjourned indefinitely.
Xaba had said they are still committed to the GPU but they will tell the ANC that the GPU partners must stop protecting Shinga if they still want his party in the arrangement.
