NFP says party was treated like pawns in KZN coalition government

By Johnathan Paoli

The National Freedom Party (NFP) said on Friday it would not rejoin KwaZulu-Natal’s Government of Provincial Unity (GPU), and confirmed it had suspended its sole member in the provincial legislature, Social Development MEC Mbali Shinga, for a further three months while a disciplinary process continued.

“We are treated not as partners but as pawns,” NFP President Ivan Barnes said at a media briefing in Durban, about the minority party’s place in the coalition.

The NFP quit the GPU earlier this week.

In December, it ordered Shinga to back a motion by the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) to remove Premier Thami Ntuli, but Shinga voted with the ANC, IFP and DA to defeat the motion, triggering disciplinary action and a demand that she resign as MEC and as the party’s representative in the KZN Legislature.

Barnes said internal challenges within the NFP had contributed to the party’s