The Inkatha Freedom Party has noted comments by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister, Pravin Gordhan, MP, mooting the idea that Nkandla Municipality will be disestablished and absorbed into a new Metropolitan Municipality.
In this regard the IFP wishes to assure the Minister that his sinister motives will be met with the highest level of resistance.
It is disingenuous and utterly opportunistic for the ruling party to want to govern Nkandla through underhanded tactics. If they want Nkandla they must go through the ballot, but history tells us that they have failed dismally to win the hearts of the people of Nkandla.
The people of Nkandla have rejected the corruption and maladministration of the ANC, and most certainly they will reject this new move to govern them by proxy.
Nkandla Municipality continues to be a well-run municipality and the plans to make it economically viable and self-sustaining are well under way.
The IFP is running a tight ship in Nkandla Municipality serving the people every day with dedication, honesty and integrity. The municipality is fully functional and therefore there is no sound basis for the desperate ANC to want to disestablish Nkandla, save that they cannot stomach the idea that President Zuma resides in an IFP controlled municipality.
The IFP rejects the continued abuse of state machinery and government due process to protect the person of President Jacob Zuma.
The move to want to disestablish Nkandla is nothing but an admission by the ANC that they know they will never ever win Nkandla and therefore they are now employing backdoor tactics under the guise of improving service delivery through a Metropolitan Municipality.
The IFP has delivered for the people of Nkandla, and we shall continue doing so.
President Zuma knows this to be true as he himself is a resident of Nkandla.
The shenanigans of the Municipal Demarcation Board in the ward determination process, where wards are constructed to suit the fancies of the ANC and what happened in Midvaal, speak of an independent body which is compromised and buckles to the whims of the ANC, and therefore cannot be taken seriously as a custodian of objective development.
The Municipal Demarcation Board will be well served if it rises above dirty political ploys and rejects them with the contempt they deserve. This will go a long way in restoring its credibility and independence.
Whenever the ANC does not govern they abuse the state machinery, in this case the Municipal Demarcation Board, to satisfy their desires and stroke their own ego.
This is a desperate action which seeks to undermine democracy and inch the country closer to a dictatorship of a one party state.
The IFP rejects this dirty and treacherous plan on behalf of the people of Nkandla, including the President. The IFP remains the legitimate and rightful voice; democratically mandated to represent the collective interests of all the people of Nkandla, all of the time.
Issued on behalf of the Inkatha Freedom Party by:
Mkhuleko Hlengwa MP
IFP Spokesperson on Cooperative Affairs and Traditional Leadership
076 521 3221
IFP Media, Parliament