IFP factional tension flares as leaked voice note sparks allegations of violence

Despite the Inkatha Freedom Party’s (IFP) top leadership projecting unity before its crucial elective conference expected next year, factional tension in the party is increasingly spilling into the open. The divisions were exposed after a widely circulated voice note in which Mncedisi Maphisa, the IFP Youth Brigade chairperson in Kwa Zulu-Natal, allegedly urged members aligned to his faction to use violence against rivals after a dispute at a branch meeting in Ulundi, northern Kwa Zulu-Natal. Maphisa, who also chairs the KwaZulu-Natal legislature’s portfolio committee on transport, was reportedly reacting to claims that another faction had blockaded roads and prevented some members from attending a branch meeting. The gathering formed part of efforts to restructure branches before the party’s long-awaited elective conference, with rival groupings competing for control of branch structures. “You’re treating these people with kid gloves,” he allegedly says in the recording. “You’re a majority in Ulundi. Don’t give them breathing space. You must beat them up and cause havoc even during meetings. They are a minority. Our force should have … [gone] there and … [given] them a severe beating.” The voice note, allegedly recorded in a conversation with another IFP member identified as Lindi, has intensified concerns over internal discipline and escalating factional conflict. Maphisa, a former Abaqulusi mayor, is understood to be aligned to a faction known in IFP circles as the KKK, which backs Inkosi Mzamo Buthelezi, the minister of public service and administration, to succeed party president Velenkosini Hlabisa. Hlabisa serves as minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs. The group is also aligned to KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thamsanqa Ntuli, whom they have endorsed as Buthelezi’s deputy. In the recording, Maphisa appears to reference political tactics attributed to Michael Khumalo, the mayor of Zululand district municipality and a prominent Hlabisa ally. “When