News24 | Mbali Shinga faces losing KZN legislature seat as speaker moves to swear in Barnes

KZN legislature Speaker Nontembeko Boyce has confirmed she will comply with a court order to declare Mbali Shinga’s seat vacant and swear in Ivan Barnes.

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• KZN legislature Speaker Nontembeko Boyce has confirmed she will implement a court order declaring Mbali Shinga’s seat vacant and swearing in Ivan Barnes.
• Shinga has instructed her lawyer to seek leave to appeal Tuesday’s judgment, while Barnes welcomed the ruling and accused her of defying the NFP.
• The dispute is the latest chapter in a bitter NFP power struggle, with the party’s single legislature seat crucial to the survival of KZN’s government of provincial unity.
• For more politics news, visit News24 Politics.

Speaker of the KwaZulu-Natal legislature, Nontembeko Boyce, has confirmed she will comply with a KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg order compelling her to declare Mbali Shinga’s seat vacant and swear in her replacement, Ivan Barnes.

Boyce’s office said on Wednesday that the legislature had received the final judgment and “the speaker will implement the judgment as prescribed in the KZN legislature standing rules”.

The confirmation follows a ruling delivered on Tuesday by Judge Bongani Mngadi, who directed Boyce to proceed with declaring Shinga’s seat vacant and swearing in the next candidate on the NFP’s reviewed party list – Barnes.

In a leaked letter addressed to NFP leadership and circulating on social media, Boyce wrote: “In compliance with this court order, please be advised that I declare the seat held by the NFP in the legislature vacant. I will further [facilitate] the swearing-in of the next candidate on the NFP’s reviewed candidate list.”

The speaker offered two possible dates for the swearing-in: 22 or 23 September.

READ | High Court orders KZN legislature to swear in Ivan Barnes, but Mbali Shinga won’t go quietly

Shinga’s lawyer, Sithembiso Mbhele, told News24 on Tuesday that she had instructed him to file for leave to appeal.

“We have 25 days within which to do so. However, we will try to move with speed to try [to] make sure that at least we are able to expedite the process,” said Mbhele.

“Right now the status quo remains, but we will try our best to make sure that we are able to save our client’s career and also make sure that the outcome of today [Tuesday]’s challenge does not have any legal effect as and when we file that leave to appeal today’s ruling.”

Barnes welcomed the judgment, accusing Shinga of turning to the courts to validate her defiance of the party.

He said:

You cannot defy, undermine and disrespect your organisation and its constitution with the hope that you’re going to rush to courts so the courts can save you and promote your ill-discipline.

Barnes said the party planned to hold a press conference on Thursday to announce the way forward.

The ruling is the latest twist in a bitter power struggle that has divided the NFP for months, pitting Shinga, who is the party’s KwaZulu-Natal chairperson, against Barnes, its national president.

At the heart of the conflict is Shinga’s refusal in December 2025 to obey a party directive to support a motion of no confidence against Premier Thami Ntuli.

The motion, sponsored by the MK Party, was widely seen as a manoeuvre by a Barnes-aligned faction to force Shinga out and clear the way for Barnes to enter the legislature.

In June, News24 reported that the KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg ruled in Shinga’s favour, with Judge Thina Siwendu finding that she remained a member of both the legislature and the NFP, pending the determination of a legal review of her expulsion and removal.

Though the NFP holds only one seat in the legislature, it is a vital cog in the fragile coalition government in KwaZulu-Natal. Without it, the government of provincial unity would collapse.