PIETERMARITZBURG, Monday 21 September 2026 — The National Freedom Party has returned to court seeking an order compelling KwaZulu-Natal Legislature Speaker Nontembeko Boyce to swear in party president Ivan Barnes, after she halted his planned entry into the legislature following an appeal application by expelled NFP representative Mbali Shinga.
The latest application follows last week’s Pietermaritzburg High Court judgment directing Boyce to declare the NFP’s sole seat vacant and take the necessary steps to install the party’s replacement representative.
Boyce subsequently declared the seat vacant and initially planned for Barnes to be sworn in this week in Newcastle.
She suspended those plans after Shinga filed an application for leave to appeal the High Court judgment.
The NFP disputes the legal effect of that application and wants the court to direct Boyce to proceed with Barnes’s swearing-in.
NFP challenges Speaker’s decision
The NFP argues that the existing court order should still be implemented because Shinga has applied for leave to appeal but has not yet been granted leave.
The party wants Barnes to take his oath on Tuesday or Wednesday in Newcastle, as had initially been planned.
Boyce’s decision to suspend the process means the NFP’s sole seat in the 80-member provincial legislature remains unresolved while the latest legal dispute is considered.
The competing positions concern the effect of Shinga’s appeal application on the earlier High Court order.
That is now a question for the court to determine.
High Court ordered Shinga’s replacement
Judge Bongani Mngadi ruled on 15 September in favour of the NFP in its dispute with Shinga and the Speaker.
The court directed Boyce to declare the NFP seat vacant and take the necessary steps to swear in the party’s replacement candidate.
Mngadi also dismissed a counter-application by Shinga seeking interim protection while she pursues a review of the NFP’s internal process that resulted in her expulsion.
Shinga subsequently instructed her legal team to appeal.
She has maintained that the internal disciplinary and appeal processes used to remove her from the NFP were procedurally defective.
Those arguments remain disputed and have not been finally determined through the appeal process.
Dispute began with vote against Premier
The conflict dates to a motion of no confidence against KwaZulu-Natal Premier Thami Ntuli in December 2025.
The NFP instructed Shinga to support the motion.
Shinga did not follow the instruction, contributing to the failure of the attempt to remove Ntuli.
The party subsequently instituted disciplinary proceedings against her.
An NFP disciplinary committee found her guilty of misconduct and gross insubordination in April and recommended her expulsion.
Shinga challenged the process internally and through the courts.
Internal appeal ended in expulsion
Shinga initially secured interim protection from the High Court in June while her internal appeal remained unresolved.
The NFP’s National Working Committee subsequently heard her appeal in July and upheld the decision to expel her.
Shinga disputes the validity of that process.
She has argued, among other things, that the committee dealing with her appeal was not properly constituted and did not adequately consider her grounds of appeal.
Mngadi said questions about whether the appeal structure was properly constituted and whether it correctly dealt with Shinga’s arguments were matters for determination in her review proceedings.
Speaker previously maintained status quo
Boyce had previously declined to remove Shinga because she said she had received conflicting accounts about the validity of the NFP’s internal processes.
The September judgment rejected that approach.
Mngadi found that the earlier interim protection granted to Shinga had expired after the NFP concluded its internal appeal process.
The judge said the Speaker’s decision effectively extended an earlier court order beyond its terms.
Following that judgment, Boyce formally declared the seat vacant.
The current dispute concerns whether Shinga’s subsequent application for leave to appeal now prevents the Speaker from proceeding to the next step.
One seat carries wider political significance
The contest over the NFP seat has implications beyond the party’s internal dispute because of the balance of power in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature.
The 80-member legislature consists of 37 MK Party representatives, 15 IFP members, 14 ANC members, 11 DA members, two EFF representatives and the NFP’s single seat.
The IFP, ANC and DA form the core of the provincial governing arrangement supporting Ntuli.
The NFP withdrew from that arrangement following the dispute over the December 2025 motion.
Barnes has previously indicated that the NFP would support efforts to remove Ntuli after the party accused its former provincial governing partners of failing to honour political agreements.
That is the NFP’s stated political position and does not establish how any future motion would ultimately be decided.
Shinga’s vote previously affected no-confidence motion
Shinga’s conduct during the earlier no-confidence vote demonstrated why the identity of the NFP representative can matter.
Despite an instruction from the party leadership to support the motion, she did not vote with the NFP’s stated position.
Her conduct triggered the disciplinary process that eventually resulted in the current litigation.
If Barnes enters the legislature, the NFP national leadership would directly occupy the party’s sole seat.
That would alter who exercises the NFP’s vote, but it would not by itself determine the outcome of a future motion against Ntuli.
Any such outcome would depend on the votes actually cast in the legislature.
Dispute also intersects with NFP election campaign
The legal battle is taking place less than seven weeks before the 4 November local government elections.
The NFP is campaigning primarily in KwaZulu-Natal, where the party has historically maintained municipal representation.
Its leadership dispute has continued while both Barnes’s national structure and Shinga’s supporters have been preparing for the municipal campaign.
Shinga said in August that the party’s candidate-selection process should not be used to exclude members because of internal factional alignment.
She warned that disputed candidate removals could also face legal challenges.
Those allegations concern a separate internal dispute and have not been established by a court.
Court decision will determine immediate next step
The immediate question is whether Barnes can be sworn in while Shinga seeks permission to appeal the September judgment.
The NFP says the Speaker should implement the existing order.
Boyce has instead paused the process following Shinga’s filing.
A ruling in the latest application could therefore determine who occupies the NFP’s sole seat while the longer-running review and appeal litigation continues.
The consequences could extend beyond the party.
With the provincial legislature closely divided, the identity and voting position of the NFP representative could again become relevant if another motion affecting the Ntuli administration reaches the chamber.
