Durban — The National Freedom Party (NFP) has been dealt a blow following the suspension of party activities including funding by the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC).
In a letter to the party factions which the Daily News has seen, the IEC said it was aware that there had been an extant dispute regarding who constitutes the legitimate leadership of the party since 2019. It added that was evident by the various letters from various members of the party or their legal representatives purporting to be legitimate leaders.
The IEC said it had neither the legal authority nor competence to resolve leadership disputes within registered parties. The IEC added that in any legal proceedings involving intra-party disputes it could only be a respondent by virtue of its defined legal role, which is to manage free and fair elections.
It said it had no direct interest in such matters and would thus not involve itself with the merits or otherwise of such cases.
“In light of the above, and in order not to prejudice any party to this dispute, the commission will refrain from taking any steps (including the filling of PR vacancies) at the instance of any person purporting to represent the NFP until this dispute has been finally resolved by a court of competent jurisdiction regarding who is the leader of the party and the duly authorised representative of the party contemplated in Regulation 9 of the Regulations for Registration of Political Parties.
“Similarly, to avoid inadvertently paying over funds due to the party in terms of the Political Party Funding Act to the incorrect faction, the commission has suspended all payment of funds to the NFP pending the final determination of the dispute,” read the IEC letter.
Speaking to the Daily News on Wednesday, party secretary-general Canaan Mdletshe confirmed that his office had received the IEC letter informing him about the decision.
He said the IEC’s decision would affect the functioning of the party, but not it financially, since the IEC was only giving them money for its two parliamentarians and one legislative member.
Mdletshe said their main concern was that the party would not be filling its vacant seat in Abaqulusi Local Municipality after he resigned last month, saying the letter came while the party was in the process of replacing him.
The paper understands the IEC decision emanated from the Pietermaritzburg High Court ruling which set aside the party’s 2019 elective conference in November last year.
Despite the ruling the leadership that was elected at the 2019 conference, which included Mdletshe as secretary-general, continued to operate. The party was directed by the court to hold fresh elections but Mdletshe said on Wednesday he was not sure when the conference would be held since they were still busy launching branches in preparation for the conference.
IEC spokesperson in KwaZulu-Natal Thabani Ngwira confirmed that the letter was sent to the party
Daily News