The National Freedom Party (NFP), which has emerged as a kingmaker in KwaZulu-Natal, has decided to join the ANC, DA and the IFP to form a government in the province.
The agreement between the four parties, which have a combined 41 out of 80 seats in the provincial legislature, prevents the Jacob Zuma-led MK party from being in the government despite it receiving the lion’s share of the vote in May’s general election.
The legislature is scheduled to hold its first sitting on Friday when a speaker, deputy speaker and premier will be elected.
The newly elected executive will take charge of the country’s second-most populated province, which contributes about 16% of national GDP.
Business Day understands that MK public representatives, who have previously pledged to boycott the sitting, will now attend Friday’s sitting. This follows the ruling by the constitutional court on Wednesday that dismissed MK’s bid to halt the first sitting of parliament, also scheduled for Friday.
The MK party had attempted to solicit the NFP’s support in a series of last-minute coalition talks throughout the previous week. However, NFP president Ivan Barnes said the party decided to join forces with the ANC, IFP and DA bloc “to take the country forward”.
At a press conference on Thursday, Barnes said the parties had agreed to support an IFP candidate for premier, ANC candidate for speaker and a DA candidate for deputy speaker.
“The numbers require that we must have 41 seats to govern in KZN. If there was a block to take the people of KZN forward, we have an obligation to join those people.”
Barnes said the NFP met all parties, except for the EFF, and spoke to the MK party in response to an invitation it had received from the newly formed party.
“The spirit of partnership and the maturity that has characterised negotiations are a source of inspiration and hope for the millions of South Africans,” said Barnes.
“In addition, we wish to indicate that we are engaging at a national level to ensure that we finalise key aspects of our participation to serve the people of this country.”
The ANC not only failed to win an outright majority nationally, it is also not the single-largest party in KwaZulu-Natal.
IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa previously said the parties would support IFP KwaZulu-Natal leader Thami Ntuli to lead the province as premier as part of the coalition government.
The ANC in the province, which has been relegated to third position with 14 seats in the legislature, previously told Business Day it would support a premier candidate from an alliance with the largest share of the vote.
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