NFP leaders pledge to resist suspension

MP Maliyakhe Shelembe and national deputy chairman Sicelo Mabika have vowed to fight to the bitter end to have their suspensions lifted.

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Durban - Two embattled NFP senior leaders and parliamentarians have vowed to fight to the bitter end to have their suspensions lifted.

MP Maliyakhe Shelembe and national deputy chairman Sicelo Mabika were suspended over their alleged non-co-operation with the party’s ongoing forensic investigation, which was commissioned after the party was disqualified from participating in the municipal elections early this month for failing to pay its deposit to the IEC on time.

The investigation will also look at the finances of the party.

Acting national chairman, Bheki Gumbi, last night confirmed the suspension of the pair.

“As you know, the NFP did not participate in the elections, so it has embarked on auditing all its accounts, including those of the parliamentary caucus.

“It received a report that Shelembe, as chairman of the caucus in Parliament, and Mabika did not co-operate with the forensic investigation,” Gumbi said.

He said because of their non-co-operation with the investigation, they had been suspended pending the completion of the probe.

“I can’t pre-empt the investigation, but the findings will determine the next step. Justice will be done in a respectful way.”

Gumbi said the party had undertaken the probe to determine what was happening in its funds prior to the 2019 elections and upcoming by-elections.

“We can’t be an organisation that fails to administer itself and think we can run the country,” he said.

Shelembe, who resigned as party chairman after the party was disqualified from the 2016 elections, confirmed receiving a letter of suspension, which he said he did not recognise because it came from people he described as “not legitimate”.

“For now I can’t speak much, but it is clear that there is an attack directed at individuals like me. They way things are done is not helping the party,” Shelembe said.

“It is war created by those who want to go to Parliament. We are to deal with them legally,” he said.

Mabika questioned the authority of Gumbi, saying they did not have an acting national chairman in the NFP.

He insisted that he, as a deputy national chairman, was authorised according to the NFP constitution to act in the absence of the chairman and also convene meetings of the national leadership.

“We are to respond to them and teach them the constitution of the party and the country,” said Mabika, who previously challenged the authority of Gumbi as acting national chairman.

Political analyst, Thabani Khumalo, said the suspensions were the continuation of the infighting that has embroiled the party over the past two years.

“Since the departure of Zanele Magwaza-Msibi, there has been chaos and ruptures. I’m not surprised that the suspensions are to be challenged,” Khumalo said.

“These are signs that the party is dying. It is to disappear and we won’t see it contest the 2019 elections,” he said.

Daily News