POLITRICKING: IFP’s Mkhuleko Hlengwa calls for solutions and political unity over blame

While the IFP’s Mkhuleko Hlengwa says the current budget impasse shows it cannot be business as usual, when it comes to governance, he insists now is not the time to apportion blame on anyone, instead he says parties must work towards a solution.

This as finance minister Enoch Gondogwana has to go back to the drawing board, once again, to table yet another budget, in this case, coalition partners in the government of national unity, are hopeful it will be third-time lucky, following intense lobbying and court action to halt the 0.5%-point VAT hike, which was due to kick in on the 1st of May.

Gondogwana has largely been blamed by opposition parties for the current crisis, with several parties including the EFF and the Umkhonto WeSizwe party calling for his head, the latter, in an odd move not consistent with the provisions of the country’s constitution is attempting to have a motion of no confidence passed against a single member of cabinet.

“I wouldn’t characterise it as a need for the apportionment of blame at this point, what I do think is we need to find solutions. We can come back once this process has concluded to check the fault lines, the sequences of events, because there’s a multiple level of players and interactions and engagements,” he said.

Hlengwa, who in the past has been referred to as “little Buthelezi,” due to his likeness to the late founder and long-serving president of the IFP Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi is this week’s guest on Politricking with Tshidi Madia, a politics podcast by EWN.

The 37-year-old politician who’s also spent 13 years serving in parliament and is the national spokesperson of his party, has served as crucial cog, in how the IFP has managed itself in the coalition talks, having also cemented his relationship with Buthelezi’s successor Velekosini Hlabisa.

Hlengwa has seemingly duplicated the warmth of this relationship with Minister Barabara Creecy, whom he works alongside, as her deputy at the transport department. Theirs is a relationship very different to the frosty relations minister Dean Macpherson and his deputy Sihle Zikalala have at Public works.

And while the country is still reeling from the 10-member coalition dubbed the government of national unity’s handling of the budget, Hlengwa has focused his energies on the silver lining, which includes conscientizing more South Africans to the budget and the scrutiny the process has brought to the inner workings of national treasury, along with its approach.

“Treasury needs to wake up to the reality that a budget in a governance outlook is not a bureaucratic exercise, it’s a political enabler to a political mandate,” he argued.

He said in this case its role was merely to respond to the aspirations and plans put forward by the ten-political parties that form national government.

“What is wholly wrong, is for treasury to want the political mandate to be accommodated in a bureaucratic exercise,” he concluded.

The IFP spokesperson said his party was yet to deliberate on the finance minister’s fitness to continue in the role.

Hlengwa did criticise the DA, which is the second largest party in the GNU for its own failure to take ownership of the budget, raising concern over an organisation that wants to be both government and opposition at the same time.

In navigating the often contentious relationship between the two largest GNU partners; ANC and DA, the IFP has the unique experience of having worked with both organisations throughout the years, across different spheres of governance, it was also part of the DA’s pre-election efforts to build a pact; the multiparty charter, that could have taken on the ANC if it went under the 50% mark, however, even with the ANC’s decline, opposition parties themselves have stagnated with none able to cobble together a formation that could muscle out the former liberation movement.

This however, is possible in KZN, where the MKP leads in terms of votes, but has failed to put together a government, the IFP, which garnered the second highest number of votes partnered with the ANC and DA to form, what seems to be a harmonious coalition, Hlengwa expresses no fear, at the idea of the IFP -led government being challenged.

‘We consider any political party a threat, including, but not limited to the Mk, we're not going to treat them any differently, like how we treat other parties. I believe that we are closing the ranks anew we are consolidating for 2026 and that's our focus,” he said.

The IFP is headed for an elective conference, following its postponement last year, its largely expected that Hlabisa will be re-elected.

Hlengwa who expressed great respect for their current leader, gave some reflections on his own relationship with the man, who took over from Buthelezi, who was at the helm for over 40-years.

“I was part of the problem and did not create a conducive environment for the transition and its infancy stage,” he admitted.

He said he’s grown to appreciate that his concerns were rooted in the party’s factional battles and to also admire Hlabisa’s style of leadership.

“I've also learned to be schooled, and I have also taken the time to listen,” he said.
The politician and father, who’s open about the difficulty, which includes juggling his government, party obligations with that of parenting his KZN based 13-year-old son, is frank in addressing some of the claims that have been levelled against him, including abusing his powers to pursue a relationship with a staffer, said personal public accountability is not a problem.

“I am certainly not above any scrutiny and public accountability, and when we are called upon to account and explain. I certainly will do so if I've got a charge to answer to in a legitimate court of law in arm of the state, on any matter, I will subject myself to that. Where I need to proffer an apology on the basis of advice and guidance from those who are around me and lead me, I'll do so.”

Hlengwa, even flagged his time as chairperson of the standing committee of public accounts, when he was chastised for his approach to Business Unity SA chair Busi Mavuso and the subsequent apology he made as an example of how he responds, when found wanting.

“All I ask for is that let's be fair to each other as a people. And so for me, it just, it's part of the rough terrain,” said Hlengwa.