The challenges that have besieged the National Freedom Party (NFP) look set to deepen as a new threat of a legal challenge hangs over the leaders elected at the party’s elective conference in Durban this past weekend.
Ivan Barnes was elected as the new leader – he stood against Zandile Myeni who got 190 votes to Barnes’ 208 votes.
Hundreds of delegates from all over the country were part of the conference.
Barnes has extended an olive branch to disgruntled factions calling on them to negotiate and resolve the party’s problem outside of the courts.
But one faction led by Canaan Mdletshe appears set to reject this call and has threatened to take the matter of the conference outcomes to court.
The Mdletshe faction already has another matter before the courts. Media reports show it was elected in 2019 but that conference was nullified by the courts in 2021. Last month this faction was granted leave to appeal the nullification.
It is largely for this reason that this faction believes that it remained the “genuine” leadership of the party until the court gives its ruling.
Both factions, however, admit that failure to resolve the squabbles that have paralysed the party and invited IEC sanction, will be the end of the NFP.
The IEC has suspended the party from political activity because it does not have a leadership in place and has failed to submit financial statements. If the squabbles are not resolved quickly, the party might not be able to contest the 2024 elections.
Mdletshe said they were concerned about the internal bickering in the party and working to resolve the issues, while considering legal action against the outcome of the recent conference.
“That was not a conference, that was just a gathering of people. It was a meeting but it concerns us that the members of the NFP were duped into thinking that they are taking part in a conference.”
He said the conference was in violation of a court order stating that the leaders elected in 2019 should remain in place until the matter was finalised by the Supreme Court of Appeal.
“You can tell it was not a conference from the number of the people that attended, it cannot be that a party of the stature of the NFP could have 400 delegates attending,” he said.
Speaking to “The Mercury” in a telephone interview on Monday, Barnes warned that failure to resolve the internal bickering would spell the end of the NFP.
“The mandate of the new leadership is to reach out to all the comrades that did not take part in the conference, whether these comrades simply did not participate or whether they have taken matters to court.
“The objective is to engage all these comrades and bring them back to the fold to stop all these matters that are playing out in court as those matters have paralysed the party,” he said.
“If the party members do not heed this call to unite and solve the problems, we are doomed.”
“The party might have survived the first blow in 2016, it will not survive if this continues. Right now the IEC has imposed sanctions because of our internal squabbles.”
Speaking on the state of the party, he said there was a lot of work that needed to be done, and the party needed to review its policies, prepare for the launch of its manifestos and re-brand.
“We need to re-brand from the previous leaders to the new leaders so that we can move forward,” he said.
Speaking of coalitions, he said the new leadership will be holding a meeting to discuss its stance on working with other parties.
“We will be meeting to discuss our stance on coalitions, at the moment the new leadership has not taken any position in the matter.
“That is why you have seen that in some areas our councillors have been voting for the IFP and in other areas they have been voting with the ANC,” he said.
The Mercury