Shinga races to court to block her own party president from taking her seat

By Celani Sikhakhane

• Shinga was fired from the NFP after losing an appeal, and the Speaker issued a letter Monday to remove her from the Legislature.

• Shinga says if Barnes takes her seat, the numbers in the Legislature will sit at 40/40, leaving both sides deadlocked.

Mbali Shinga is not going quietly. The fired NFP MEC says she will be in the Pietermaritzburg High Court on Tuesday morning, seeking an urgent interdict to stop the KZN Legislature Speaker from swearing in any NFP member as her replacement.

“For now I am still a member of the KZN Legislature as I am heading to court for an urgent interdict which will be filed early in the morning on Tuesday,” Shinga said.

KZN Legislature Speaker Nontembeko Boyce issued a letter on Monday to remove Shinga from her seat, clearing the way for the NFP to install a new member. The person in line to take that seat is NFP president Ivan Barnes.

Shinga was fired from the NFP over the weekend after losing an appeal. She says she is not surprised. The same person who charged her, she says, is the same person who now wants her seat.

Her refusal to vote with the MK party during a motion of no confidence against KZN Premier Thami Ntuli on 15 December 2025 triggered the fallout. NFP president Barnes had already agreed to back the MKP and EFF in a bid to bring down the Government of Provincial Unity, made up of the ANC, IFP, DA and the NFP.

Shinga says her fight does not end in court. She intends to take it all the way to the NFP’s National Conference.

She also raised doubt about whether the MKP’s numbers even add up. If Barnes takes her seat, she says, the Legislature sits at 40/40, leaving both sides deadlocked.

Her legal team files Tuesday morning.

Pictured above: MEC Mbali Shinga is seeking a court interdict to block the KZN Legislature Speaker from swearing in any NFP member as her replacement.

Image source: KZN Social Development Department