MK Party, KZN Legislature clash over replacing Shinga as MPL

The MK Party and the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature have locked horns over the implementation of a court judgment ordering Speaker Nontembeko Boyce to facilitate the replacement of NFP MPL Mbali Shinga with party president Ivan Barnes.

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The dispute centres on whether Shinga should be replaced following last week’s Pietermaritzburg High Court ruling in favour of the NFP’s national leadership, which argued that she was no longer eligible to represent the party after her expulsion.

Shinga had applied to have an earlier judgment against her set aside, but the court last week refused her leave to appeal.

According to the Legislature, Shinga, who has indicated that she will approach the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to challenge the ruling, cannot be replaced as long as there is proof that she has lodged an application to appeal.

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In a statement, MK Party caucus chief whip Bheki Mngadi demanded an explanation for the delay in implementing the judgment.

Regarding Shinga’s intention to appeal, Mngadi said:

Based on the information available to this office, such an intention, in itself, does not constitute a court order or an interdict suspending the operation or implementation of the existing judgment.

However, the Legislature has defended its decision to halt the swearing-in of Barnes, citing provisions of the Superior Courts Act that suspend the execution of court decisions pending an application for leave to appeal or an appeal, unless a court orders otherwise.

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In a statement, the Legislature said Boyce was mindful of Judge Mngadi’s September 15 order directing her to take the necessary steps to swear in the next eligible member on the NFP’s party list in Shinga’s place.

It said the Speaker had received an application for leave to appeal and accepted that Section 18 of the Act applied.

She is therefore compelled not to take any further consequential steps to implement the order pending determination of the application for leave to appeal.

The swearing-in of Barnes, which had been scheduled for today, was therefore halted.

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The Legislature also confirmed that Shinga would remain an MPL while the appeal was pending.