NFP guilty verdict puts Mbali Shinga’s career at risk: Analyst

Political analyst Professor Bheki Mngomezulu says the National Freedom Party’s guilty verdict against its KwaZulu-Natal Chairperson, Mbali Shinga, puts her political career in jeopardy.

Shinga, who is a member of the provincial legislature, has been expelled from the party after she was found guilty of misconduct and gross insubordination by the party’s disciplinary committee.

This followed her suspension last year after she defied an instruction to support a motion of no-confidence tabled by the opposition uMkhonto weSizwe Party against provincial Premier Thami Ntuli in the legislature in December last year.

Ngomezulu warns that if the party pulls out of the Provincial Government of National Unity, that will be the end of the road for the coalition.

“As things stand at the moment, we are just waiting for the final sanction that the party is going to impose on her now that she has been found guilty. But then, of course, whatever happens, it means that it will depend on whether the NFP remains a member of the multi-party coalition in KwaZulu-Natal. If it takes that decision and Mbali Shinga has been expelled from her party, it will then mean that the NFP will have to appoint someone else to go and represent the party in the provincial government. However, if the NFP decides to pull out of the coalition, then that will be the end of the road.”