Youth leader loses out in DA spat

MPL Mbali Ntuli

MPL Mbali Ntuli

Published Aug 25, 2014

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Durban - Tension is brewing in the DA in KwaZulu-Natal, threatening to tear apart the main opposition party in the province.

MPL Mbali Ntuli and the party’s provincial leader, Sizwe Mchunu, are at the heart of the strained relationships, although Mchunu denied this on Sunday.

The Mercury learnt that it was this spat that forced Ntuli to resign as leader of the party’s national youth structure. Ntuli said she had no problems working with the provincial leadership. She did not deny, however, that tension existed.

“Our party is really sick, but the media is not paying attention to it, because it is obsessed with what is going on in the ANC,” said a source.

On her return from the US last month Ntuli discovered she had been “set up for failure” by the party’s provincial structure which wanted her to mobilise support for the party in the uMkhanyakude District Municipality. The area is isolated, rural and stretches to the Mozambican border.

“She opted to resign from leading the youth to focus her energy on proving her detractors wrong,” said a source.

The party is expected to hold its provincial congress early next year to elect new leaders.

Ntuli confirmed she had been approached to lead the party in the province.

Mchunu said

: “I didn’t know that she was unhappy. People are allowed to engage the executive committee if they are unhappy.”

Former DA national parliamentary leader Lindiwe Mazibuko quit her position amid speculation that her relationship with party leader Helen Zille had broken down.

The Mercury

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