National Freedom Party secretary general Teddy Thwala fired — again
National Freedom Party (NFP) secretary general Teddy Thwala has been fired once more from his position in the latest round of the factional battle that has crippled the organisation since the death of its founder in 2021.
Thwala was dismissed by the NFP national working committee following a disciplinary hearing on Sunday, which was held in his absence, and has been given five days to lodge an appeal against the outcome.
This is the third time that Thwala has been removed from office by the faction in the party led by its president, Ivan Barnes, having twice gone to court this year to force the NFP to reinstate him and other leaders who had been expelled.
His lawyer Thando Mbili said that the disciplinary hearing against Thwala had gone ahead without him and that he had only been informed that it was taking place on Sunday, the day it was held.
The NFP had failed to provide them with information they had requested about the charges against Thwala, along with details of the time and venue for the disciplinary hearing.
“We received a communication from the person who was purportedly appointed to be the chairperson of the hearing that a decision has been taken to expel the secretary general. It was stipulated that he has five days to lodge an appeal but we are not told with whom that appeal should be lodged,” Mbili said.
The decision to expel Thwala had been taken by the NFP national working committee in violation of the party’s constitution, which stipulates that those powers lie at the constituency level, Mbili added.
As a result, his client was preparing to go back to court.
“We are going to be consulting with a view to bring more court proceedings which would declare the decision taken by the NFP disciplinary hearing as a nullity,” Mbili said.
The infighting in the party has raged since before the death of founder Zanele Magwaza-Msibi, who had been incapacitated earlier due to ill health, in September 2021, and brought it to the brink of disbarment from elections by the Electoral Commission of South Africa.
It has the potential to destabilise premier Thami Ntuli’s government of provincial unity in which the NFP plays a key role by virtue of its single seat in the KwaZulu-Natal legislature.
Ntuli’s government, which also involves the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), the ANC and the Democratic Alliance, hold power through this NFP seat.
Any collapse of the party — or a shift away from the IFP-led coalition by its leaders towards the uMkhonto weSizwe party — could result in a hung legislature and a collapse of the government of provincial unity.
Barnes confirmed Thwala’s dismissal and said that he had been expelled for “gross misconduct” and bringing the NFP into disrepute.