I’m going nowhere, says NFP MEC Shinga

KwaZulu-Natal social development MEC Mbali Shinga is digging in her heels, ignoring mounting pressure from her party, the National Freedom Party (NFP), which has told her to resign both as an MEC and a member of the provincial legislature. Her refusal is frustrating Jacob Zuma’s attempts to capture the province even as it adds to the turmoil in the fragile government of provincial unity (GPU).

Made up of the IFP, the ANC, the DA, and the NFP the GPU just weeks survived the MK Party’s failed December 15 motion of no confidence in premier Thami Ntuli. NFP leader Ivan Barnes announced in Durban this week that the party was withdrawing from the GPU, citing betrayal and broken promises.