NFP president Ivan Barnes. Photo: Supplied.
The National Freedom Party (NFP) will enter the Government of National Unity (GNU).
This was announced by its leader President Ivan Barnes on Thursday.
He announced the party will join the ANC, DA and IFP in forming a government in KZN, leaving the MK party without power despite it getting the most votes in the province last month.
He said the people of SA had said they did not want any party to lead outright, and so the ANC had created a GNU.
Barnes said the NFP supported such a coalition.
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“The NFP supports and prescribes to the GNU and provincial government of unity in KwaZulu-Natal”.
He said this alignment would allow them to also negotiate at a national level, and dictate terms, including checks and balances over the next five years.
He said policy and stability were at the heart of their decision,
“You have to realise that the numbers require that we must have 41 seats to govern in KZN. Where there was a block to take the people of KZN forward, we have an obligation to join those people”.
Barnes said they met all parties, except for the EFF, and spoke to the MK party because they were invited to do so.
The MK party reacted to the NFP’s decision, calling the new formation a “conglomerate of rejects”.
“The reality is the MK party is the only party that is majority loved. The rest of the parties in the province were rejected. It is a conglomerate of rejects.
He predicted the coalition would strugg;le to govern.
‘They will have to govern those who rejected them. This has nothing to do with serving the people of KZN, which the MK party does,” spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela told broadcaster eNCA.
Barnes said the NFP met with the IFP to start a process of reconciliation.
“We invited them to a meeting because there is a terrible past between us. For us to work with the IFP, we needed to start that reconciliation process”.
He said negotiations had concluded that the premier would come from the IFP, the speaker of the provincial legislature would come from the ANC, and the deputy speaker would come from the DA.
ALSO READ: How GNU works in other countries and what SA can expect
“No names were attached to this agreement,” Barnes said.
The IFP has put forward Thami Ntuli as its Premier candidate.
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