NFP leader Ivan Barnes is reportedly at loggerheads with senior party members. [Picture: Businesstech]
A political analyst has sounded the bell warning of a potential “spillover” effect from squabbles in the National Freedom Party (NFP) and the provincial government in KwaZulu-Natal.
Speaking in an interview on Salaamedia on Tuesday morning, Dr Ntsikelelo Breakfast said factionalism within the NFP could spell trouble for the province. The province is governed under an Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)-led coalition arrangement.
“Ivan Barnes has been contradictive of his counterparts within the party. There is a power struggle there,” he said.
He was referring to reported battles between NFP president Ivan Barnes and secretary general Teddy Thwala. Barnes last week suspended Thwala, reported Daily News.
Said Breakfast: “Members of the party are pulling in different directions. That is having a spillover effect on the arrangement of the provincial government”.
The coastal province is run by a coalition between the IFP, NFP, African National Congress (ANC) and Democratic Alliance (DA). Touted as a ‘government of provincial unity’, the deal sidelined the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP), which swept the province with a near-majority in May’s election.
