The Independent Electoral Commission has issued a warning to the NFP, urging them to promptly address their internal issues to avoid potential exclusion from participating in the upcoming 2024 National General Elections.
By Jabulile Mbatha
The future of the National Freedom Party (NFP) is at stake as the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has issued a cautionary notice. If the party does not appoint a leader, it may face suspension and be unable to participate in the upcoming 2024 National General Elections.
Another concern for the IEC is the NFP’s failure to submit audited financial statements for two consecutive years.
The party cannot provide reasons for leaving the position of the president vacant since the death of its founder, Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi, in 2019. Additionally, they are unable to account for unsubmitted financial statements.
Secretary General of the NFP, Canaan Mdletshe pointed the finger at their Treasurer General describing this as an ‘embarrassing and unfortunate situation’ because there’s no reasonable explanation that has been brought before the leadership.
“It’s a that has been receiving attention to an extent that a new auditing firm has been appointed to deal with it. But it must be noted that reasonable actions would have to be taken against the responsible individual because this has brought the party into disrepute,” said Mdletshe.
The failure to produce financial statements is a violation of the Party Funding Act, which has compelled the Commission to suspend any further funding to the party.
The NFP, which broke away from the IFP in 2011, won 2.4% of the municipal elections. Out of that number, 10.4% were in matter KwaZulu Natal, a province plagued by political killings, where 155 politicians have been murdered. According to Police Minister Bheki Cele, four of those killed were NFP councillors.
While Mdletshe suggested that the party has financial challenges like other smaller parties, the IEC is more concerned about its lack of leadership. This has led to their suspension from contesting any by-elections, as the Commission cannot accept candidate nomination submissions from any faction of the party.
Another reason for their declining numbers is that the NFP was disqualified in the 2016 municipal elections due to their failure to pay election fees at the IEC. The situation worsened for the party in 2019 when they lost four of their seats in the National Assembly.
According to Kate Bapela, the Chief Communication Officer of the IEC, the NFP has an urgent and important task at hand – the nomination of their candidates. This needs to be done by March as the IEC is currently facing challenges in determining the legitimate leadership of the party.
“Consequently, the Commission is constrained not to act on instructions from or recognise any of the leadership factions until the leadership is resolved by the party itself or a competent court determines the matter.
“This is the reason the party is suspended from contesting any by-elections as the Commission cannot accept candidate nomination submissions from any of the factions of the party.”
Mdletshe, though, is adamant the NFP still have a role to play in the South African political landscape.
“The party remains the only organization that does not only seem to represent rural women, considering that it remains the only party established by a black woman after 1994. South Africans still believe in the NFP”.
Currently, the NFP holds only two seats in the National Assembly, no seats in the National Council of Provinces, and one seat in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial legislature.
As it stands the NFP has two seats in the National Assembly, none in the National Council of Provinces and one in the provincial legislature.