By Sipho Khumalo
The embattled IFP, which faces losing control of the KwaZulu-Natal province as a result of the floor-crossing legislation, moved swiftly on Tuesday to beef up its provincial legislature by redeploying some party hardliners from Cape Town to the province.
Weakened by the defection of two of its key MPs, its former chief whip Mike Tarr and Maurice Mackenzie, who defected to the African National Congress in June, the IFP brought the hard-talking Velaphi Ndlovu, its expert on health, Dr Olaf Boysie Baloyi, and Geoffrey Bhengu to the province from Cape Town.
The three were sworn in by speaker Bonga Mdletshe as members of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature.
Ndlovu is the party's spokesman on safety and security while Baloyi, the former deputy director-general in the KwaZulu-Natal health department, now heads the party's HIV/Aids directorate.
The three are replacing Vincent Ngema, Maria Xulu and Ellis Vezi, who have since been dispatched to Cape Town.
Initially the list of those who were to be sent to Cape Town included Tarr and Mackenzie and this was largely seen as a move to stop them from defecting to the ANC. IFP chief whip Inkosi Hulumeni Gumede said the move was part of "cross-pollination" of members to enable them to exchange their skills.
"The idea is to strengthen the KwaZulu-Natal legislature team and vice versa. The party decided to mix and do cross-pollination so that those who had been based in Cape Town could share their experience with those in KwaZulu-Natal," he said.
Five MPPs crossed from three parties and joined the ANC in June but the legality of their move is still to be clarified by the Constitutional Court, which is currently considering the constitutionality of the floor-crossing legislation.