The Inkatha Freedom Party is a conservative political party in South Africa,which is a part of the current South African government of national unity together with the African National Congress (ANC). Although registered as a national party,it has had only minor electoral success outside its home province of KwaZulu-Natal. Mangosuthu Buthelezi,who served as chief minister of KwaZulu during the Apartheid period,founded the party in 1975 and led it until 2019. He was succeeded as party president in 2019 by Velenkosini Hlabisa.
Prince Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi was a South African politician and Zulu prince who served as the traditional prime minister to the Zulu royal family from 1954 until his death in 2023. He was appointed to this post by King Bhekuzulu,the son of King Solomon kaDinuzulu,a brother to Buthelezi's mother Princess Magogo kaDinuzulu.
Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi was a South African politician who was the Deputy Minister of Science and Technology of South Africa in the cabinet of Jacob Zuma. She was also President of the National Freedom Party (NFP). Prior to being elected to Parliament,she served for nineteen years as a councillor,fifteen of those years as Mayor of the Zululand District Municipality. She was formerly chairperson of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the IFP's candidate for Premier of KwaZulu-Natal in the 2009 general election.
General elections were held in South Africa on 8 May 2019 to elect a new President,National Assembly and provincial legislatures in each province. These were the sixth elections held since the end of apartheid in 1994 and determined who would become the next President of South Africa.
Mkhuleko Hlengwa is a South African politician who is currently serving as the Deputy Minister of Transport since July 2024. He is the national spokesperson of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and has represented the party in the National Assembly since May 2012.
The 35th Inkatha Freedom Party National General Conference was held from 23 to 25 August 2019 to elect the new leadership of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). The previous elective conference was held in 2012. Party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi had announced his intention to retire after serving in the position for more than forty-four years. He was the party's inaugural president. It was understood that the party's IFP Extended National Council favoured the Leader of the Opposition in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature,Velenkosini Hlabisa,to succeed him as party president. Hlabisa was elected unopposed.
Velenkosini Fiki Hlabisa is a South African politician and former teacher who is currently serving as Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs since June 2024. He has been President of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) since 2019 and a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa since 2023. He is the party's parliamentary leader. He previously served as the Secretary-General of the IFP from 2011 to 2017,as the Mayor of the Big Five Hlabisa Local Municipality from 2016 to 2019 and as the Leader of the Opposition in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature between 2019 and 2023.
Liezl Linda van der Merwe is a South African politician who serves as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa,representing the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). She became an MP in May 2012.
Magdalena Duduzile Hlengwa is a South African politician who served as a Member of the National Assembly of South Africa from May 2019 until May 2024. Hlengwa is a member of the Inkatha Freedom Party.
Siphosethu Lindinkosi Ngcobo is a South African politician who has been serving as the Secretary-General of the Inkatha Freedom Party since August 2019. He was elected to the National Assembly of South Africa in May 2019. Ngcobo is a former president of the National Teachers Union (NATU).
Narend Singh is a South African politician who is the chief whip of the Inkatha Freedom Party in the National Assembly and the treasurer-general of the party. Prior to joining the National Assembly in 2007,he was a Member of the Executive Council in the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government from 1997 until 2006 and a member of the Senate from 1994 to 1996.
Maliyakhe Lymon Shelembe is a South African politician. Shelembe was an Inkatha Freedom Party member until 2011. He was elected to the National Assembly in 2014 as a member of the National Freedom Party. Shelembe became a Democratic Alliance MP after the 2019 elections.
Russel Nsikayezwe Cebekhulu is a South African politician who has been an Inkatha Freedom Party Member of Parliament (MP) since 2015 and previously from 2009 to 2014.
Zandile Majozi is a South African politician who became an MP in the South African parliament at the 2019 general election as a representative of the Inkatha Freedom Party.
Bhekizizwe Nivard Luthuli is a South African politician who is a member of the National Assembly of South Africa from the Inkatha Freedom Party. He was first elected at the 2019 South African general election. He was re-elected in the 2024 general election.
Sanele Sethembeni Zondo is a South African politician from KwaZulu-Natal. He is currently a Member of Parliament (MP) for the Inkatha Freedom Party. Zondo also serves as the Deputy National Chairperson of the Inkatha Freedom Party Youth Brigade.
Belinda Francis Scott,formerly Belinda Barrett,is a South African politician who was KwaZulu-Natal's Member of the Executive Council (MEC) for Finance from 2014 to 2019. She served several terms in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature from 1994 to 2019,representing the African National Congress (ANC) from 2002 onwards after defecting from both the Democratic Party and the Inkatha Freedom Party. After she left the provincial legislature in 2019,she served as Deputy Mayor of eThekwini from September 2019 until she resigned from politics in February 2021.
Keith Muntuwenkosi "Musa" Zondi is a South African politician who has been KwaZulu-Natal's Member of the Executive Council for Economic Development,Tourism and Environmental Affairs since 2024. A member of the Inkatha Freedom Party,he was sworn in as a member of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature in October 2023. Previously,he served as Deputy Minister of Public Works from 2001 to 2004. He represented KwaZulu-Natal in the National Council of Provinces from 1994 to 1999 and in the National Assembly from 1999 to 2012. He served as the party's secretary-general and was widely touted as a possible successor to IFP president Mangosuthu Buthelezi before he resigned from his party office and legislative seat in February 2012.
Prince Nhlanhla Elijah Zulu was a South African politician and prince of the Zulu royal family. He represented the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the National Assembly from 1995 until his death in 2007. A founding member of the IFP in 1975,he also served on the party's National Council until his death.
Patrick Kierin Robert O'Malley is a South African lawyer,academic,and politician who represented the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the National Assembly from 1996 to 1999. He defected to the Federal Alliance in early 1999.
