The KwaZulu-Natal legislature erupted into chaos on Monday after IFP premier Thami Ntuli narrowly survived a motion of no confidence vote which would’ve seen him ousted from the position.
The MK-sponsored motion ended in a 39-40 split in the 80-seater legislature.
MK had been counting on the vote of the National Freedom Party and the Economic Freedom Fighters to remove Ntuli. However, the NFP’s sole MPL, Mbali Shinga, defied the party line and voted against the motion.
“A motion of no confidence should flow from a proper assessment of the performance of a government. This motion doesn’t pass that test,” she said in a debate prior to the vote.
Led by former president Jacob Zuma, MK received the majority of votes in the 2024 KZN elections but was unable to lead the province after the ANC, DA, IFP and NFP joined forces to form a government of provincial unity.
MK sought a secret ballot, citing threats made against its MPLs, but it was shot down by speaker Nontobeko Boyce.
“I have met with the three presiding officers that I have been elected with, the deputy speaker, and we have looked, and we are satisfied that this is the way to go,” she said at the start of the vote.
“When you raised the things, we also had to look at them and also get our advice from the people that are employed to advise us. We are satisfied.”
Ntuli, an IFP member, has led the province since mid-2024 under the multiparty arrangement designed to block MK from taking control of the strategically important province. The coalition has struggled to maintain cohesion amid policy disagreements and shifting alliances.
The ANC, IFP and DA had previously said they would reject the motion, while the EFF and NFP said they would support it.
“Whether the MK party has the capacity to govern or not is none of our business. The people of KwaZulu-Natal love them as they are. The DA must not threaten us with protests as if we lack the capacity to organise counter-protests of our own,” EFF leader Julius Malema said previously, explaining his party’s decision to support the MK motion.
MK’s chief whip in the legislature, Bonginkosi Mngadi, said on Monday that the party was bringing the motion forward because Ntuli has overseen “poor governance and financial mismanagement, misleading this house on trips and failure to address unemployment and poverty”.
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