IFP President Velenkosini Hlabisa has issued a stern warning to party members fuelling divisions over campaign T-shirts bearing either his image or that of the late IFP founder, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, ahead of the local government elections.
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Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) president Velenkosini Hlabisa and the party’s KwaZulu-Natal chairperson, Thami Ntuli, have spoken in unison against growing divisions within the party ahead of the local government elections.
The two leaders, who are reportedly at odds politically, warned that factionalism and internal disputes could derail the party’s election campaign.
They made the remarks while sharing a stage at an event in eMpangeni.
Hlabisa criticised party members who refused to wear T-shirts bearing his image, as well as those who said they would no longer wear T-shirts featuring the face of the party’s founder, Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
The controversy erupted after party members were recently permitted to wear campaign T-shirts featuring Hlabisa’s face. However, some members have reportedly rejected the move.
A voice note by party member Lindi Ndlovu recently went viral, in which she allegedly stated that she would not wear a T-shirt bearing Hlabisa’s image during a conversation with suspended IFP KwaZulu-Natal Youth Brigade chairperson and former mayor Mncedisi Maphisa.
Maphisa and Ndlovu were suspended pending an investigation into allegations that the former devised a strategy to destabilise the inauguration of party branches ahead of the party’s elective conference, scheduled to take place after the November local government elections.
Hlabisa said that if Buthelezi were still alive, he would have been the first person to wear a T-shirt bearing Hlabisa’s image.
He revealed that Buthelezi had wanted campaign T-shirts featuring Hlabisa during the 2019 elections, when Hlabisa was the party’s candidate for KwaZulu-Natal premier but had not yet become party president.
IFP provincial chairperson Thami Ntuli who has lashed out at IFP members who are refusing to wear T-shirts featuring the face of the IFP President Velenkosini Hlabisa.
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“I said, ‘Shenge, I am not yet the party leader. We cannot have T-shirts with the face of someone who is not the party leader. Let us use a face that people already know,’” Hlabisa said.
He added that Buthelezi made a similar proposal during the 2021 local government elections, but the campaign was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Before the 2024 elections, the Prince again made the same request. Unfortunately, he passed away. We then decided to continue using his face in the 2024 elections as a way of honouring his contribution to the party,” said Hlabisa.
“The person who says they will no longer wear the Prince’s T-shirt because they love Hlabisa is lying. The person who says they are loyal to the Prince and will not wear Hlabisa’s T-shirt is also lying. The Prince himself said he would be the first to wear a T-shirt with Hlabisa’s face on it.”
Ntuli urged party members to unite behind Hlabisa, saying the IFP had only one recognised leadership structure.
“It is important that we all support the president in his work. We cannot be divided. We have one leader, not two leaders. We have one deputy president, not two deputy presidents. We have one KwaZulu-Natal chairperson, not two chairpersons,” Ntuli said.
“As we approach the elections, if we continue fighting among ourselves, other parties will defeat us. Whoever is leading a campaign to divide the party is an enemy of the IFP.
“Whoever works to criticise the party president, the KwaZulu-Natal chairperson, or any other party leader is an enemy of the unity of the IFP,” he added.