KZN Premier Thami Ntuli. PHOTO: SUPPLIED

KZN Premier Thami Ntuli says the new unity provincial government will work together to build trust and deliver to the people of the province.

Kzn premier - Figure 1
Photo Maritzburg Sun

During Friday’s KZN Legislature elections, presided over by Judge President Thoba Portia Poyo-Dlati, the 41 MPLs belonging to the provincial unity government elected Ntuli, who is the IFP provincial chairperson, as the new KZN premier.

ANC provincial executive committee (PEC) member Nontembeko Boyce was elected as speaker and DA MPL Mmabatho Tembe was elected as deputy speaker.

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The provincial unity government bloc faced a challenge from former president Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK) Party, which has 37 seats in the KZN Legislature.

The MK Party, supported by the EFF’s two MPLs, fielded inkosi Phathisizwe Chiliza as the MK Party’s premier candidate. Former Msunduzi Municipality deputy mayor Mervyn Dirks contested Boyce for the speaker position, while MK Party MPL Ishana Barciela contested the deputy speaker position.

In all three positions, provincial unity government candidates received 41 votes, while all three MK candidates received 39 votes each.

The voting processes were interrupted several times by MK Party and EFF MPLs, who wanted the votes to be counted in front of the MPLs rather than by Poyo-Dlati and other legislature presiding officers alone.

However, Poyo-Dlati did not budge, stating that the election regulations did not require the ballots to be counted in the presence of MPLs.

The KZN Legislature elections generated significant interest from the media and the public alike.

As early as 9 am on Friday, supporters of the MK Party and the IFP had already camped outside the KZN Legislature building in Pietermaritzburg. Clad in party colours, IFP supporters erupted into celebrations each time the election results were announced.

IFP member Siphesihle Mkhwanazi said he came to the legislature to show support for IFP MPLs during the first sitting.

ALSO READ | IFP’s Ntuli elected KZN’s new Premier

He said the party members and supporters outside the building were supporting the election process of the speaker, deputy speaker, and IFP provincial chairperson Thami Ntuli as premier for the province.

MK Party national spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela said while his party believed the May 29 general elections were rigged, the party supporters felt it was important to lend support to the organisation’s MPLs inside the chamber.

Ndhlela described the victory of the provincial unity government camp as “hollow.”

All those political parties who were electing people to positions don’t have any support here in KZN — they were all rejected by the citizens of this province during last month’s elections. They will find it difficult to govern the province given that the people don’t have confidence in them.

“The people of this province have confidence in one party — the MK party,” he said.

However, briefing the media shortly after his election, Ntuli said the people of KZN did not give any political party the mandate to govern on its own.

“Through their vote, the citizens of this province instructed us to work together. That’s why we will be walking the journey together so that the public can decide whether to trust us or not,” he said.

On whether the coalition government would be stable, Ntuli said the fact that the parties agreed to work together was a sign that they have a common purpose.

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“During the build-up to the general elections we differed, but now we have agreed to work together to correct the wrongs which have been pointed out by the citizens of this province,” he said.

Ntuli, who will be inaugurated on Tuesday, will announce his Cabinet on the same day.

The unity coalition also scooped all top positions during the National Assembly’s voting, which also took place on Friday, where President Cyril Ramaphosa was expected to be re-elected to the top national government position.