Hlabisa expects IFP to win KZN in ’24; urges PA to join Opposition coalition

IFP President Velenkosini Hlabisa is confident his party will win the KZN provincial election next year. The IFP’s victory in another by-election against the ANC last week — its 10th since the 2021 Local Elections — lends credibility to this prediction. In this in-depth interview, Hlabisa urges members of the Multi-Party Charter to “engage, engage, engage” and specifically calls for including Gayton MacKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance in the Opposition coalition. He also addresses critics who foresee the IFP’s disintegration following founder Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s passing. Hlabisa outlines what it would take for the ANC to successfully woo the IFP away from the Opposition pact next year, setting a very high bar for such a scenario. - Alec Hogg