Durban – NFP treasurer Xolani Ndlovu, who has been blamed
for the party’s election blunder which led to the party being disqualified from
the 2016 local government elections, has gone to ground.
National Freedom Party Youth Movement leader Sibusiso
Mncwabe said the party had not received Ndlovu’s resignation following the
Electoral Court’s decision.
“We are making attempts to speak to him and get to the
bottom of this issue because we still need to know what happened, but we have
tried him on his phone and we cannot get hold of him,” Mncwabe said on Monday.
He said the youth movement did not have a problem with Ndlovu’s suspension.
“He cannot just vanish, he must come back and explain what
happened. We don’t want the same mistakes to happen in the future.”
- Read more: Game over for NFP
Ndlovu, the party’s secretary general Professor Nhlanhla
Khubisa, chairperson Maliyakhe Shelembe and deputy national chairperson Scelo
Mabika, were suspended at the weekend after they failed to pay the party’s
elections registration fee to the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) by the June
2 deadline.
The party challenged the IEC's decision in the Electoral
Court. It was informed on Saturday that it had lost its case.
Khubisa and Shelembe resigned, but then withdrew their
resignations.
Mncwabe said the party was in crisis and that Ndlovu was
responsible for making the payment to the IEC. He said the decision to suspend
members was illegitimate.
He said the NFP should be allowed to contest the elections.
He suggested that the IEC could fine the party.
“Our belief is that it would be unfair to stop almost one
million voters from exercising their constitutional right. We know that there
is an administrative error and harsh decisions will be taken.
“We do not believe that the administrative error should
supersede the constitutional right of the citizens.”
- Elections Map: Previous NFP results
Mncwabe said there were people in the party taking advantage
of the fact that NFP leader Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi suffered a stroke in 2014 and could
not lead them.
They were disturbed that the Inkatha Freedom Party appeared
to be celebrating the NFP’s downfall.
“We were disturbed to see the IFP’s lawyers in court to
support that we are not granted the order. The IFP has declared that they want
to see this party dead, they don’t want us.”
He said the IFP had its ducks in a row and it should rather
focus on campaigning than chasing after the NFP.
He claimed the IFP was at war with the NFP after that party
was disqualified from contesting the 2011 elections in the Umzumbe
municipality. It had failed to meet the deadline for submitting its candidate
list to the IEC. He said the NFP had nothing to do with this.
Shelembe said it was clear people were taking advantage of
kaMagwaza-Msibi's ill health.
Khubisa said her absence did not mean the party was a
rudderless ship.
“The president works within a collective. If the president
is unwell, the leadership still needs to be respected because the president
does not work in silos.”
- Find everything you need to know about the 2016 Local Government Elections at our News24 Elections site,
including the latest news and detailed, interactive maps for how South
Africa has voted over the past 3 elections, or download the app for iOS and Android.