The National Spokesperson of the IFP, Reverend Musa Zondi, said that the IFP welcomed the Constitutional Court ruling today which confirmed that the IFP had correctly interpreted and adhered strictly to the judgement handed down on the 4th October and had acted responsibly and constitutionally following the lifting of protection from the two MPP's who had crossed from the IFP to the ANC.

Rev. Zondi said:

"While the ruling is indeed welcome the outcome was expected by the IFP. It was clear to any person who read the October 4th judgement from the Constitutional Court that the protection of these members was lifted on the 21st October and that parties had the right to replace them."

He added:

"We sincerely lament the waste of time that this unnecessary application to the Constitutional Court has cost. With this ruling, however, the IFP hopes that the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature can once again function at peak to ensure that service is continued to be delivered to the people of the Province."

Rev Zondi noted:

"We sincerely hope that the ANC leadership in KwaZulu-Natal is now going to abandon its bizarre and frantic attempts to manipulate and bend the law to suit its political wild dreams. They should swallow their pride and accept the reality of the situation as it is. The fire of floor-crossing which they kilned in the hope that it would burn the IFP is now burning their own hands and we hope that they are learning some hard life lessons from this experience."

Rev. Zondi concluded by saying:

"Political parties will have to work very hard to restore trust between them and normalise relationships in a way that benefits the people of KwaZulu-Natal. I sincerely hope that all political parties in the Province will set aside their short-term political ambitions to work together to bring economic stability and a sense of security for every person in KwaZulu-Natal."

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