The DA in KwaZulu-Natal has moved to stabilise the government of provincial unity (GPU) by engaging the NFP in bilateral talks amid growing tensions within the multi-party provincial government. Senior leaders from the DA and NFP met in Durban last Friday for discussions that lasted for hours, in what the DA described as a “candid and constructive engagement” focused on the NFP’s concerns about its role within the GPU. DA KZN chairperson Dean Macpherson described the meeting as laying a foundation for unity within the GPU parties.
“The meeting was both cordial and informative and gave the DA insight into the frustrations experienced by the NFP in the GPU,” he said. Macpherson said the DA would now take the initiative to broaden discussions by convening a multiparty meeting involving all GPU partners, including the IFP and ANC. “[This will] allow all parties to raise issues that are important to them and to resolve outstanding differences,” he said.
Macpherson reiterated the DA’s position that the GPU remained the most viable mechanism for delivering stable governance and economic recovery in KZN. Our view remains that the GPU, with the full participation of the NFP, is the best vehicle to deliver stability, economic growth and jobs to the people of KwaZulu-Natal. “The DA believes that [Friday’s] meeting was a step in the right direction and now calls on all parties in the GPU to come together in the best interests of the province,” he said.
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The GPU controls 41 of the 80 seats in the KZN Legislature. The NFP’s single seat has been critical to the GPU’s majority. On the other hand, the MK Party and the EFF, both opponents of the GPU, collectively hold 39 seats in the KZN Legislature. An NFP defection to the MK Party/EFF alliance would create a stalemate in the legislature, as neither bloc would be able to pass items such as budgets or legislation.
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