‘KZN is burning and Ntuli has only a teaspoon’, MK Party says in no-confidence bid
KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli will face a motion of no confidence on Monday morning.
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“KwaZulu-Natal is burning, and the premier has only a teaspoon of water to fight flames,” that’s according to the MK Party as it moves to unseat Thami Ntuli in a high-stakes motion of no confidence in the provincial legislature.
In his debate on Monday at the legislature, MK Party member Sizwe Mbatha said Ntuli lacked the political weight and leadership capacity required to confront KwaZulu-Natal’s crises.
“Even when there’s a fire in a township house, we act to extinguish the flames,” Mbatha said.
“KwaZulu-Natal is burning, and the premier doesn’t have enough water to stop the fire. He is holding a teaspoon of water, trying to stop flames he cannot stop.”
Mbatha said Ntuli was not governing the province but serving as an administrator “babysat by a frightened coalition”.
“KwaZulu-Natal is not collapsing because it has many problems,” he said. “It is collapsing because the premier is too small for the job.”
He also launched a scathing attack on the Democratic Alliance (DA), ridiculing the party’s campaign to collect 10,000 signatures in opposition to the motion.
“Ten thousand signatures online is not political pressure,” Mbatha said.
“That is WhatsApp. That is a funeral WhatsApp group.”
Mbatha accused the DA of clinging to what he described as “the last museum of neoliberalism on African soil” and remaining trapped in a “1652 mindset”.
“They are still controlled by Madam (Helen- DA federal council chairperson) Zille, the headmistress of the 1652 logic,” he said. “A political project that believes Africans must be supervised like schoolchildren.”
He claimed the DA was attempting to defend its grip on power rather than democracy.
“When the DA shouts ‘hands off the GPU’, they are not defending democracy,” Mbatha said. “They are defending their control centre, their narrative factory.”
Mbatha said that under Ntuli’s leadership, municipalities were collapsing, crime was surging, black-owned businesses were suffocating, and service delivery had become “a mythology”.
“He governs like a man waiting for a supervisor to approve his courage,” he said. “KwaZulu-Natal needs a leader, not a placeholder for the DA’s insecurities.”
The motion of no confidence will be debated and voted on in the 80-member KwaZulu-Natal legislature on Monday.
At least 41 votes are required for it to pass.
The MK Party holds 37 seats and has secured the support of the Economic Freedom Fighters (two seats) and the National Freedom Party (one), giving it 40 votes - one short of the threshold.
The governing government of provincial unity (GPU) comprises the Inkatha Freedom Party (15 seats), the African National Congress (14), the DA (11) and the NFP (one), giving it a narrow majority of 41 seats.
The MK Party says it brought the motion because it believes Ntuli is presiding over an underperforming administration marked by corruption and financial mismanagement.
Although the MK Party won the largest share of the vote in last year’s provincial elections with more than 40%, it fell short of an outright majority and was excluded from the coalition.
The ANC, weakened by its reduced representation, has entered the GPU with the IFP and DA and is understood to have instructed its members to continue backing the coalition.
With the numbers so finely balanced, the outcome of the vote remains uncertain.
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