KwaZulu-Natal Social Development MEC Mbali Shinga has won the first round of her legal battle against NFP president Ivan Barnes, whom she has accused of trying to engineer her removal from the provincial legislature and take over the party’s seat.

Shinga scored an interim legal victory on Friday when the High Court in Pietermaritzburg interdicted the NFP and the KZN Legislature from proceeding with steps to remove and replace her as the party’s MPL, pending the finalisation of further internal and legal processes.

The court ruled that Shinga should remain an NFP member and a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature for now, after finding that the party’s disciplinary and appeal processes had not been finally determined.

That was after Shinga argued in her court papers that the appeals tribunal which upheld her expulsion last month was not the final body that should hear her case.

She argued that the constitution of the party was clear that its general national conference was the highest internal structure and that Barnes and leaders aligned with him had jumped the gun when they wrote to the Legislature Speaker Nontembeko Boyce to say she had been expelled and should be replaced.

The NFP had moved to remove Shinga after its appeals tribunal upheld a decision to expel her for defying a party directive to support the removal of KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli in December last year.

The court also ruled that, if Boyce had already acted on the directive by Barnes and the NFP to remove Shinga, that decision was set aside and the status quo should remain as it was before the attempted removal.

The court further ruled that Shinga could not be removed from the legislature while her internal appeal and the party’s decision were still unresolved.

Shinga told the court her application was urgent because, if she followed the normal court roll and procedures, it could take up to two years for the matter to be heard.

By then, she said, Barnes and other NFP leaders would have succeeded in removing her unfairly and without following proper internal processes.

The dispute has placed renewed pressure on KwaZulu-Natal’s Government of Provincial Unity, in which the NFP holds one seat but plays a potentially decisive role.

In her application, Shinga had cited Advocate Zweli Zakwe, who chaired the appeals tribunal that upheld her expulsion.

She accused Zakwe of acting outside the party’s constitution and said his appointment as appeal chairperson was imposed on her.

Shinga’s lawyer, Sithembiso Mbhele, said his client would now return to work.

Barnes said on Saturday: “The NFP National Executive Committee will meet [on Sunday] to attend to the interim (court order) and abide by the ruling.”

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The four members of the Ingonyama Trust Board (ITB) who were left in office by the time the board was disbanded have taken the matter to the Pietermaritzburg High Court for an urgent review.

They asked the court to hear the matter on Wednesday, citing irreparable harm if there were delays.

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The members, Inkosi Sibonelo Mkhize, Advocate Linda Zama, Inkosi Phalang Molefe and property practitioner Nomusa Zulu, said the decision by Minister Mzwanele Nyhontso of the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development should be declared unlawful, irrational, and suspended, as he had misinterpreted the Ingonyama Act in taking the decision.

Cited as respondents, among others, were King Misizulu, the sole trustee of the Ingonyama Trust, and KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli.

Both the Zulu King and Ntuli were consulted by Nyhontso and agreed with his assertion that the board had virtually collapsed and was unable to carry out its duties, and should therefore be disbanded.

The main affidavit was filed by Siyamdumisa Vilakazi, the acting chief executive officer of the Trust.

Despite Misuzulu saying he did not recognise Vilakazi because his appointment was unlawful, the acting chief executive officer told the court that he was duly authorised to depose to the main affidavit.

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“The relief is urgently required to enable the ITB to approve its 2026-2027 budget which it is scheduled to do on Wednesday, 25 March 2026. If [the] budget is not approved in that meeting scheduled for that day, such approval is unlikely to be obtained by 31 March 2026, which is the last day for the financial year.

“If the budget is approved by then, the ITB and the Trust will not be able, in terms of the KZNITA (KZN Ingonyama Trust Act) and the PFMA (Public Finance Management Act), to lawfully access and use public monies including monies of the Trust. This will threaten the existence and operations of the Trust,” Vilakazi said in his affidavit.

Other than that, Vilakazi said the “unlawful” disbanding of the board would hamper the approval of the 2024-2025 annual report, which was due by 15 April 2026.

Vilakazi also asked the court to suspend Misuzulu’s decision to revoke his (Vilakazi’s) and Zulu’s powers to sign for money at FNB.

Vilakazi said the king appeared to believe that the board was part of the Zulu monarch and that the assets of the trust were “personal property.”

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He said those assertions were displayed by the king in the case brought by Prince Mbonisi Zulu, who wanted to interdict him from accessing the funds of the Trust until the issue of succession was settled.

Meanwhile, the staff salaries at the Trust, which were due on Wednesday morning, had not been paid at the time of publication.

Several sources at the Trust told Inside Politics that they usually received their salaries just after midnight; however, this time around that had not happened.

The delayed salaries were believed to be linked to a letter Misuzulu wrote to FNB changing signatories.

The spokesperson for the Trust, Simphiwe Mxakaza, said it was too early to say salaries had not been paid.

“Kindly note that today, 25 March 2026, is the official payday for the staff of Ingonyama Trust, and the day has not yet lapsed in terms of their employment contracts. At this stage, it would be premature to conclude that staff have not been paid, as there are still several hours remaining within the agreed payment window.

“It is important to consider that salary payments may still be processed within the remaining time. Should the salaries be transferred within the next few minutes, any prior conclusion suggesting non-payment would be inaccurate,” he said.

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The Democratic Alliance in eThekwini has demanded an urgent meeting of the municipality’s executive committee, saying Mayor Cyril Xaba should explain his handling of a court fight over municipal services and unpaid rates of R500 million by the KZN Department of Public Works and Infrastructure (DPWI).

On Friday, the Pietermaritzburg High Court ordered eThekwini and Msunduzi Municipalities to immediately reconnect water and electricity to DPWI facilities, including transport offices and licensing centres, amid a dispute over unpaid municipal accounts.

The full matter is scheduled for March 26, 2026.

“This judgment exposes serious failures in leadership that have now placed a heavy and unnecessary financial burden on the residents of eThekwini,” said DA eThekwini caucus leader Thabani Mthethwa on Saturday.

“We warned the mayor repeatedly, but his arrogance clouded his judgement. His failure to act responsibly and transparently has now resulted in ratepayers being forced to pay the legal costs for a case that could and should have been avoided.”

The DA also alleged governance and legal breaches, saying the episode was “in violation of the Municipal Finance Management Act and the City’s own credit control policy”.

Accountability should extend to senior management, it said.

eThekwini Municipality said it rejected the “misinformation being peddled by the Department of Public Works regarding the court order issued in respect of the R500 million arrear debt on rates”.

“We state categorically that the Pietermaritzburg High Court judgment does not favour the Department of Public Works, as suggested.

“On the contrary, the judgment strengthens eThekwini Municipality’s ability to ensure that the Department adheres to the payment plan, something it has repeatedly failed to do in the past,” the municipality said.

“Should the Department fail to comply with the court-ordered payments, it will be in contempt of court.”

The municipality said the court-ordered payment plan was:

• R50 million to eThekwini Municipality by 15 December,
• Payment of monthly instalments, on or before the 30th or the last day of April, May, and June, in the amount of R138,219,993.00.

“It is important to clarify that it was never the intention of eThekwini Municipality to hasten the disconnection of services to affected public facilities,” it said.

“The difficult decision to disconnect services was only taken after the Department of Public Works defaulted four times on signed payment agreements.”

The municipality also disputed the DA’s suggestion that the court considered a punitive cost order against the city manager, saying: “Our legal team has confirmed that this did not occur and is not reflected anywhere in the court order.”

“The only directive issued was for the city to return to court on 26 March 2026 to make representations as to why the order should not be made permanent.”

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Former President Jacob Zuma has lost his Gauteng High Court bid to appeal the order compelling him to repay R28.9 million in state-funded legal fees.

The court dismissed his application for leave to appeal the repayment order and ruled that neither a full bench nor the Supreme Court of Appeal would reach a different conclusion.

The ruling means Zuma must repay the funds within 60 days or risk assets, including his presidential pension, being seized.

This case stems from years of litigation where opposition parties, including the DA and EFF, challenged the state’s funding of Zuma’s private legal battles.

It follows another Zuma legal battle.

On Thursday, Zuma appeared in the Pietermaritzburg High Court for proceedings in his long-running arms deal corruption case. The matter is yet to come to trial.

He appeared alongside representatives of French arms company Thales, his co-accused, as both sought leave to appeal a ruling that dismissed their bid to halt the prosecution.

Zuma faces multiple charges of fraud, corruption, money laundering, and racketeering linked to South Africa’s controversial multibillion-rand arms procurement programme.

Thales is accused of agreeing to pay him bribes through payments allegedly facilitated by his former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, who was convicted of fraud and corruption in 2005.

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Former president Jacob Zuma is back in the Pietermaritzburg High Court in connection with his long-running arms deal corruption trial, seeking leave to appeal a judgment that dismissed his attempt to quash the case.

Zuma appeared on Thursday alongside representatives of French arms company Thales, his co-accused, as both seek permission to challenge an earlier ruling that refused to halt the prosecution.

Zuma faces multiple counts of fraud, corruption, money laundering and racketeering linked to South Africa’s multibillion-rand 1990s arms procurement programme.

Thales is accused of agreeing to pay him bribes through a stream of payments allegedly channelled via his former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik, who was convicted of fraud and corruption in 2005 for his role in the scheme.

Zuma faces charges of fraud, corruption, and money laundering, while Thales stands accused of bribing him through a series of payments allegedly facilitated by his former financial adviser, Schabir Shaik.

Thales’ legal team has argued that the deaths of two former executives, Pierre Moynot and Alain Thetard, have severely undermined the company’s ability to mount a fair defence.

Both men were central figures in the company’s dealings during the arms procurement process, and their absence, the defence has said, makes it impossible to fully test key aspects of the state’s case.

Prosecutors have countered that the matter has already been delayed for years and that the public interest in seeing the arms deal allegations ventilated in open court outweighs the defence’s objections.

The National Prosecuting Authority has insisted the matter must proceed to trial.

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