NFP supporters wait anxiously as party leadership talks to the IFP about its participation in the GPU.
Image: Nqobile Mbonambi/Independent Media
The NFP said talks with the IFP are still ongoing and it has yet to determine if will stay in the Government of Provincial Unity (GPU).
The two parties finally met in Durban on Sunday to discuss the concerns of the NFP that led to its withdrawal from the GPU earlier this year.
Speaking on Monday morning, the NFP's acting Secretary-General Sunset Xaba said the talks have just started, will continue and no final decisions have been made.
“The public and the media must just wait, as we are still talking. There are not yet any agreements and we will update the public if there are developments,” said Xaba.
IFP national spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa had not yet responded to questions sent to him at the time of publishing.
The meeting of the two parties had long been awaited after the NFP had met with the other two GPU partners, the ANC and the DA.
Sunday's meeting took place amid uncertainty over the future of the GPU following the failed Umkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) motion last year and the withdrawal of the NFP from the provincial government.
The bone of contention according to NFP is the IFP’s backtracking from the earlier promise to cede Zululand District Municipality to the NFP as a top-up to the Social Development department it received as a reward for agreeing to be part of the IFP/ANC/DA coalition; however, the IFP denied making such promises, saying although it was raised, there was no agreement.
The party previously argued that it would be impossible to undermine the will of the people of Zululand who exercised their democratic right to chose the IFP to govern them.