KZN Sopa debate turns into mudslinging match between ANC and IFP

What was supposed to be a KwaZulu-Natal Legislature debate on Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube’s Friday State of the Province Address (Sopa) on Tuesday degenerated into a mudslinging match between the ANC and IFP.

The ANC and IFP, which are the two dominant political parties in KZN, are currently embroiled in a war of words as each one seeks to gain the upper hand ahead of next year’s general elections.

In her Sopa, Dube-Ncube outlined a number of measures to create jobs, eliminate load shedding and clamp down on crime.

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However, Tuesday’s debate mainly focused on matters which had little to do with the Sopa.

A focus on IFP’s shortcomings
ANC MPLs largely focused on the IFP’s shortcomings, particularly within KZN municipalities currently governed by the IFP.

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One of the issues dominating Tuesday’s debate were recent scandals involving IFP councillors across KZN municipalities.

The most widely reported were a sex-for-jobs scandal and a particularly egregious instance of abusive behaviour.

The IFP responded by suspending Abaqulusi Municipality mayor and one of its councillors in the Alfred Duma Municipality.

Despite attempts by IFP KZN Legislature caucus leader Velenkosini Hlabisa to use the suspensions as proof that the party does not tolerate wrongdoing on the part of its members, ANC MPLs were unrelenting in their attacks on the IFP.

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Calls for arrest of implicated IFP councillors
ANC MPL, Mbali Frazer, who is also the MEC for Education, called for the arrest of the implicated IFP councillors.

As a government of the ANC, we stand with the victims who have been preyed on by the despicable IFP leaders who take advantage of women who are vulnerable and desperate for work. We all have a Constitutional responsibility to protect women who are sexually abused in exchange for employment opportunities. As the ANC, we will ensure that full-scale criminal investigations are undertaken and that sexual predators are brought to book and stripped of their positions in government.
When DA KZN Legislature caucus leader, Francois Rodgers told Dube-Ncube that plans contained in her Sopa to increase allocations to the province’s municipalities were counterproductive given that the bulk of KwaZulu-Natal’s councils lacked the capacity to spend, the premier once more shifted the focus to the IFP.

It’s IFP municipalities who are failing to spend. The IFP should do away with the practice of abusing taxpayer’s money by employing only the members of the party in the municipalities where the party governs.
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Responding to accusations levelled at his party, Hlabisa said the IFP — unlike the ANC — was an accountable party.

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If we come across any wrongdoing within any of the municipalities where we govern, we act. If any of our councillors do any thing wrong, we remove them. This is unlike the ANC, which shifts people accused of serious transgressions to other lucrative positions.
The IFP, which in the 2021 municipal elections took control over several municipalities in the province, is currently working on dislodging the ANC from power in KZN in next year’s general election.