POLITICAL NEWS - The IFP’s proposal that the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature be moved from Pietermaritzburg to Ulundi is one of the issues being discussed at the party’s policy conference currently underway in Empangeni, northern KZN.
Previously located in Ulundi as part of the homeland administration controlled by the IFP, the provincial legislature was moved to Pietermaritzburg in 2004, shortly after the ANC had taken control of the province after general elections held in the same year.
Speaking on the sidelines of the IFP policy conference on Tuesday, the party’s national spokesperson, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, said the conference delegates will have to discuss the legislature relocation as the matter falls under governance.
It will also discuss how the IFP plans to conserve the province’s resources should the party succeed in its endeavour to dislodge the ANC from power in KZN next year.
The push for the provincial legislature to be relocated to Ulundi, Hlengwa said, gained momentum as soon as the IFP became aware of the ANC-led provincial government’s plan to spend about R6 billion on the construction of a new parliamentary precinct in Pietermaritzburg.
What we are saying as the IFP is that instead of spending so much money on a vanity project, it would be much cheaper to utilise the existing KZN legislature building in Ulundi.
The IFP’s proposal, which has the support of ActionSA, is being opposed by the ANC.
The DA, which is in discussions with the IFP to co-govern the province in the event of ANC support in KZN dropping to below 50% in next year’s general elections, currently doesn’t support the IFP’s proposal for the KZN legislature to be moved to Ulundi.
Meanwhile, IFP president Velenkosini Hlabisa, who officially opened the party’s two-day policy conference on Tuesday morning, said it is not a forgone conclusion that the conference delegates will endorse the proposal for the KZN legislature to be relocated to Ulundi.
“The policies we present to the electorate in 2024 must be responsive to the immediate needs of the people, while building for the long-term future of South Africa.”
I have no doubt that today and tomorrow, as we debate these policies, insights will come to light that change how we view certain ideas. We may even need to change our draft policies. That is the very point of this conference.
“We are not here to rubber-stamp policies that have been developed without having a chance to influence, shape or even change those policies. We are here to really engage with the ideas and to ask the difficult questions,” he said.
Policies adopted at the IFP’s conference, Hlabisa said, will feed into the party’s manifesto, which will be tabled at the beginning of next year.
“As we debate the draft policies that are being tabled today, we are preparing the IFP’s commitment to the people of South Africa in 2024. We are putting together a uniquely IFP offering implementable solutions that meet the needs of our country,” he said.
