We won't be bullied, says ANC

Schism in the KZN provincial government over threat to place department under administration

- Sandile Motha

The gloves are off and the battle lines are drawn in the KwaZulu-Natal coalition government, with the ANC asserting that it will not be forced into submission by the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the Democratic Alliance (DA).

The hostilities reached boiling point on Wednesday when the former governing party unleashed a tirade accusing its two coalition partners of ganging up against it.

The second-biggest province in the country in terms of vote share has been co-governed by the ANC, IFP, DA and the National Freedom Party, which banded together after last year’s general elections to muscle out former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party.

Just a few months old at the time, the MK party had garnered just over 45% of the provincial vote, making it the biggest party in KwaZulu-Natal by that measure.

At the heart of the schism between the coalition partners is a pronouncement by finance MEC and DA provincial leader Francois Rodgers that the department of transport and human settlements, led by former ANC KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Siboniso Duma, was struggling with corruption and malfeasance.