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IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa.
Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader Velenkosini Hlabisa has asked voters in Umzumbe, on the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast, to set the tone for an IFP victory in the upcoming by-election and the local government elections later this year.
Voters in ward 13 will go to the polls on Wednesday in a hotly contested race between the IFP, ANC, MK Party and NFP.
Up to this point the municipality has been co-governed by the IFP and ANC, after winning 17 seats each in 2021.
Hlabisa has asked voters to help the IFP bring stability to the local government sphere, as it did in the 2024 general elections that gave rise to a government of national unity, and a government of provincial unity in KZN.
“People of South Africa have demonstrated that they have trust in the IFP. This has been shown, as I have said, in a number of by-elections. And even the government of KwaZulu-Natal, the response of our communities. How Premier Ntuli and his team in a coalition government, the GPU, are leading the province of KwaZulu-Natal. They have brought back confidence. Even the investors, the business people, they are more willing to invest more money.”
The ward became vacant when the IFP councilor, Siyabonga Doncabe, resigned pending a disciplinary hearing about his performance.
While Doncabe has joined the MK Party, the Umzumbe municipality’s outcomes showed a decline since 2022.
Hlabisa says the IFP will meet with all it’s municipal leaders at the beginning of March to discuss Auditor General reports.
“We will be going through the Auditor General reports for all municipalities. To ensure the issues raised by the AG w attend to them. We are very happy though that there are municipalities with very good audit outcomes. I was acknowledging Mrs Xulu, a woman, a mayor of Umlalazi. She is known as Mrs Clean Audit. Because for a period of 4 years in a row clean audit.”
VIDEO | IFP in campaign mode in uMzumbe, KwaZulu-Natal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDjaIUKTiTw
