The IFP is unconvinced by the complacency of the ANC leadership in KwaZulu Natal, that the earthquake sweeping through the ruling party countrywide and claiming casualties among its high profile appointments in other provinces is somehow going to by-pass KwaZulu Natal.

 "Judge Nicholson's verdict in the Pietermaritzburg High Court, which has been squarely responsible for the recalling of President Thabo Mbeki, has set ANC heads rolling across the board and the movement in the ruling party is more tectonic than its KwaZulu Natal leadership cares to admit," said Leader of the Official Opposition in KwaZulu Natal, Dr Lionel Mtshali. 

The IFP wonders how much longer the post-Polokwane ANC leadership, bolstered by the changes in the Presidency and in the national cabinet, will tolerate the baggage of a largely corrupt provincial government in KwaZulu Natal led by a self-proclaimed Mbeki supporter.  

"Premier Ndebele has presided over an increasingly dysfunctional administration whose party political divisions have spilled over into several municipal councils. By way of damage control, Premier Ndebele has consistently invoked the backing of President Mbeki. This support structure is now gone," said Dr Mtshali. 

The IFP does not see how the fresh ethos promulgated by the new appointments to the national cabinet can co-exist in KwaZulu Natal with the Mbekite policy orthodoxy in such government departments as health. 

"It is hard to imagine that Minister Barbara Hogan's reformist zeal will go down well in KwaZulu Natal where massive overspending at health has resulted in frozen medical appointments, and where mismanagement has all but paralysed the distribution of ARVs to HIV-positive patients. Clashes of personalities and policy viewpoints are imminent," said Dr Mtshali.
 

Contact:
Dr Lionel Mtshali
083 256 4902