National Assembly: 18 February 2010

The IFP has noted with concern the public statements made by the Honourable Minister of Human Settlements concerning the National Chairperson of the IFP.

The Minister accuses the IFP of ill-treating our National Chairperson; he however does not elaborate on the alleged ill-treatment.

The IFP condemns the Minister's comments as negative, hostile and uncalled for interference in the internal affairs of the IFP.

Let me remind this House that the IFP refrained from poking its nose in the internal struggles of the ANC prior to its Polokwane conference and again in recent weeks when the ANC President came under severe pressure for the choices he has made in his personal life. We would therefore expect the ANC to refrain from weighing-in on current internal debates within the IFP, in the run-up to its elective conference in May this year.

Propagandistic statements such as these by the Honourable Minister Sexwale and the very public attacks of Julius Malema on the IFP, leave us wondering whether the ANC has taken a conscious decision to label the IFP as its enemy against which the hostility of the ANC must be directed.

The IFP calls upon the ANC to rein in the motor-mouths within its ranks. And we are looking forward to receiving the ANC's unequivocal response to the issue we have raised.