As the IFP's highest decision making body, the National Council (NC) continues with the performance assessment of its mayors in KwaZulu-Natal, many have expressed fears for their future.
With two mayors already axed, several mayors who spoke on condition of anonymity have called for a fair assessment, saying they fear a political purge because of the faction they support, ahead of the party’s national elective conference.
The claimed purge is believe to be linked to the leadership contestation between President Velenkosini Hlabisa and the KwaZulu-Natal chairperson Thami Ntuli, ahead of the December conference.
The party recently fired Amajuba and Umzinyathi district municipality mayors Prince Ndabuko Zulu and Petros Ngubane respectively, over poor performance issues.
A mayor, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Zulu and Ngubane are known to belong to the Konke Kuhamba Kahle (KKK) faction in the party which is aligned to Ntuli and they are uncertain about their future.
He said they are not against the party’s decision to assess their performance but there are fears that the National Council may use the opportunity to target those mayors who are known to be supporting Ntuli.
“There is a huge uncertainty now amongst my colleagues. Every day we are calling each other checking whether he or she has not been told anything by the deployment committee. All we are calling for is a fair performance assessment process and not a purge those who may support candidates not favoured by the national leadership.
"As much as we understand that it is the prerogative of the party to deploy or recall its members from government positions, we are worried about the timing of these recalls as branches have started preparing for the conference,” said the mayor.
He said if the decision is purely based on performance, it would mean that many mayors will bite the dust since many municipalities are in a dire situation. In her recent report on the provincial municipalities, Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke has highlighted the general poor state of financial management.
However, the party's national spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa allayed fears of a purge on Monday, saying there was no witch hunt as the assessment was solely based on service delivery record.
Another mayor said the suspicion regarding a purge may emanate from the fact that the party has not called a meeting with mayors to explain the assessment process.
He said he has not been contacted by the national leadership or the deployment committee to notify him that National Council members would visit him, other than what he has seen in the media.
Inkosi Ntandoyenkosi Shabalala, the party's KwaZulu-Natal deputy chairperson, said deploying and recalling mayors is the responsibility of the national executive and the deployment committee.
“We know nothing about the process as the provincial executive committee because the NC does not have to report to us about the changes they make in the municipalities,” said Shabalala.