DURBAN, Thursday 27 August 2026 — The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has called on Premier Thami Ntuli to remove Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC Thulasizwe Buthelezi from his portfolio, escalating a dispute between provincial governing partners over a R14.6 million water-tanker purchase by the ANC-led uMkhanyakude District Municipality.
The demand followed Buthelezi’s intervention in the municipality’s proposed 36-month agreement to buy five specialised water tankers for R14,619,714, or about R2.92 million per vehicle.
Buthelezi, an IFP member, said on Wednesday that the transaction should be cancelled because the municipality was already under financial pressure and the provincial CoGTA department had provided five water tankers to communities in the district at no cost to the municipalities.
The department said it would also cover the drivers and diesel required to operate the provincial tankers.
The tankers were deployed to Jozini, Big Five Hlabisa, uMhlabuyalingana and Mtubatuba as part of efforts to address longstanding water shortages in the district.
Buthelezi described the proposed municipal transaction as financially irresponsible and questioned why the district should take on additional debt when provincial resources were already available.
Those assessments are the MEC’s position and do not constitute a finding that the proposed procurement is unlawful.
The African National Congress in KwaZulu-Natal responded on Thursday evening by accusing Buthelezi of using his provincial office to target municipalities governed by the party.
ANC provincial spokesperson Sifiso Sonjica said the party had asked Ntuli to remove Buthelezi from the CoGTA portfolio.
Sonjica accused the MEC of treating ANC-led municipalities differently from councils controlled by the Inkatha Freedom Party and said uMkhanyakude should proceed with what it regarded as necessary measures to provide water.
The allegations of partisan treatment are the ANC’s claims and have not been independently established.
The dispute carries significance beyond the tanker transaction because the ANC and IFP are partners in KwaZulu-Natal’s provincial government.
The IFP’s Thami Ntuli became premier after the 2024 provincial election through a power-sharing arrangement originally involving the IFP, ANC, DA and NFP.
Buthelezi has held the CoGTA portfolio as part of that arrangement.
The NFP announced in January that it was withdrawing from the Government of Provincial Unity, leaving relations among the remaining major partners particularly important to the stability of the administration.
Thursday’s demand also revives an earlier source of tension between the ANC and IFP.
The ANC previously sought Buthelezi’s removal from CoGTA amid disagreements over provincial intervention in ANC-controlled municipalities, including uMkhanyakude.
Reports of a possible reshuffle emerged in late 2025, but the IFP publicly rejected claims that an agreement had been reached to move Buthelezi from the portfolio.
The latest confrontation comes at a particularly sensitive time in uMkhanyakude itself.
The district and its four local municipalities — Jozini, uMhlabuyalingana, Big Five Hlabisa and Mtubatuba — are becoming increasingly competitive ahead of the 4 November local government elections.
The IFP and ANC face competition from the MK Party and other organisations, while the newly established Jozini Congress is contesting all five councils in the district after recruiting former IFP figures, including former Jozini mayor Mfananaye Mathe.
Water provision is likely to be a central campaign issue because communities across the district have experienced persistent supply problems.
The disagreement therefore places the provincial department controlled by an IFP MEC and an ANC-led district municipality on opposing sides of a service-delivery dispute immediately before campaigning intensifies.
It also creates a test for Ntuli, who must decide whether to act on a demand from one of the parties supporting his provincial administration while the IFP continues to defend its own senior representative.
Neither the premier nor the IFP had announced Buthelezi’s removal from the CoGTA portfolio in the latest verified reporting on Thursday night.
The immediate focus will be on Ntuli’s response and whether uMkhanyakude proceeds with the R14.6 million transaction despite the MEC’s demand that it be cancelled.
Any broader confrontation between the ANC and IFP over Buthelezi’s position would carry implications beyond the district, particularly as both parties compete directly for municipal control across KwaZulu-Natal in November.
