Johnathan Paoli
Ivan Barnes has been elected as the president of the National Freedom Party, beating fellow contender, Zandile Myeni with 18 votes.
More than 600 delegates attended the party’s national elective conference in Durban on Friday, despite the three-day conference experiencing several challenges, including delays with registering delegates.
Divisions and leader squabbles have dogged the NFP for some time and even forced the Independent Election Commission to issue an order to the party to settle its internal affairs by March, next year.
The conference was haunted by issues of validity as senior NFP members previously received suspension letters barring them from participating in all party activities, including the main contenders for party president – Myeni and Barnes – who both refused to recognise their suspension letters.
Barnes said he did not recognise the suspension from party SG Canaan Mdletshe and continued to attend the conference.
Myeni said that the divisions in the party could not allow certain delegates to use personal vendettas to settle points, stressing the need for continued performance and participation in order to engage the organizational obstacles the party is facing.
Barnes urged members to build a strong NFP that will have strong structures on the ground.
However, there is a faction within the party that doesn’t recognise this weekend’s elective conference.
A number of small parties have previously broken away from the NFP, including the Abantu Batho Congress, the African People’s Movement, formed by former chairperson Vikizitha Mlotshwa, and the National People’s Front, formed by former national deputy chairperson Bheki Gumbi.
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