MK Party plans to grab KZN

A former Cogta MEC has said if the province is hung, then the government would have no choice but to call for an early election

- Lunga Mzangwe

The Jacob Zuma-led uMkhonto weSizwe Party plans to grab KwaZulu-Natal so that it can take charge of the province as the main player in the government of provincial unity by removing premier Thami Ntuli in a no-confidence motion.

The MK party, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the National Freedom Party (NFP) would then form a coalition.

The legislature has 80 members and, if MK, EFF and NFP form a pact, it would be divided 40-40, meaning that the provincial government would not be able to pass anything.

The MK has 37 seats, EFF has two and NFP has one. The IFP has 15 seats, the ANC 14 and the Democratic Alliance (DA) 11.

The MK party recently put a motion of no confidence against Ntuli. This has been supported by the NFP. It is not clear when the motion will be heard. The ruling coalition in the province includes IFP, NFP, ANC as well as the (DA).

Former Gauteng provincial Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) MEC Mzi Khumalo said a legal process needs to be followed to try to ensure that this did not happen. Khumalo said if there is no winner after a certain period of time, elections would then be declared.

"There is a process that you follow before you come to that. Coalitions themselves are a risk, if it's 40-40 and that is it, you then have no option but to call for elections," he said.

Election analyst Wayne Sussman said if the legislature was split 40-40, it would be difficult to remove Ntuli. "But I believe that, if you cannot pass budgets and departments can't run, then Cogta would have to come in and one of the things could be an early election."

Political Analyst Ntsikelelo Breakfast said if one has to premise the argument on the fact that the parties will not find each other if that's the case the Constitution does make a provision for a rerun.

Breakfast said this is unprecedented as he had never seen a rerun at a provincial level.