The IFP has started internal discussions regarding preferred cabinet portfolios for its members in the event of the May 29 elections resulting in a coalition government.
Formal discussions with other parties will only begin “once elections are done and figures are on the table”, IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa told Business Day. Negotiations with other parties regarding positions or portfolios would be done in a responsible manner and will be based on competencies of individuals, he added.
“The internal processes are under way ... because you can’t come with a position that it is the finance ministry or nothing because you are dictating if that is the case, but you must have options,” Hlabisa said.
“Once elections are done and figures are on the table we will then start to engage in terms of which portfolios the IFP would want to oversee on behalf of the people.”
The IFP, SA’s fourth-biggest party by seats in the national assembly, has targeted ousting the ANC as government in KwaZulu-Natal and being a part of the executive in a coalition government in Gauteng, which the ANC won in 2019 and at national level. The two provinces represent a combined 44.3% of 27-million registered voters.
The IFP and its partners within the multiparty charter — a group of opposition parties that have banded together in a bid to oust the ANC from government — are also targeting the 14-million voters who chose not to participate in the last elections.
“Those people are enough to take the ruling party out of power ... if you can even get even half of them to vote we can oust the ANC,” Hlabisa said.
The IFP has the most support in KwaZulu-Natal, having received 16.34% of the vote in the 2019 general election. That increased to 24.24% in 2021, making it the official opposition there.
KwaZulu-Natal has been a hive of activity in the run-up to the elections, with the ANC, EFF and IFP holding manifesto rallies in the province between February and March. The emergence of the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, led by former president Jacob Zuma, has added another element to voting. Its voting pool is similar to that of the ANC, which is facing its toughest elections as various polls estimate its share of the national vote could decline to below 50%, forcing it to seek coalitions with smaller parties.
Hlabisa, who has led the party since 2021 after the late Mangosuthu Buthelezi stepped down, says the party is poised to move from the opposition benches in KwaZulu-Natal to being the official government after the elections, partly because of the emergence of MK, which is expected to skim votes from the ANC in the province.
“The IFP members know Zuma; he had opportunity to be the president of the country for nine years and they can assess him for nine years. That is why we don’t see the MK being a threat to the IFP or taking members of the IFP,” he said.
“We just want to know their manifesto,” Hlabisa said on the possibility of a coalition agreement between the IFP and MK.
The party will intensify its campaign over the next 30 days with manifesto rallies to be held in the North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga in May. Hlabisa has already held rallies in Gauteng and Free State.
“Our campaign is going to be focused on areas where you have a high population because that is where you must cut the big cake to have more votes,” he said.
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