ANC defies IFP-led cabinet decision in KZN

A POLITICAL clash which may threaten the stability of the Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) in KwaZulu-Natal is looming between the ANC and IFP.

- WILLEM PHUNGULA

Parties have traded public blows over the IFP-led cabinet’s decision to place the ANC-led Umkhanyakude District Municipality in northern KZN under administration. Although the ANC’s three MECs were part of the meeting that approved the decision, the party provincial task team leadership has publicly rejected the cabinet decision and called on its deployees in the municipality to defy the order.

On Monday, the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Reverend Thulasizwe Buthelezi returned without introducing the appointed administrator Bamba Ndwandwe after he and his team were prevented from entering the municipalitys premises. The mayor and senior officials did not attend the meeting.

In a statement released later on Monday, the municipality said the council was "gravely concerned about what it perceives as a premature, unnecessary, and procedurally unfair intervention".