{"id":20301,"date":"2013-06-10T15:57:05","date_gmt":"2013-06-10T13:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/mpl-tells-why-he-quit-fossil-ifp\/"},"modified":"2013-06-10T15:57:05","modified_gmt":"2013-06-10T13:57:05","slug":"mpl-tells-why-he-quit-fossil-ifp","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/mpl-tells-why-he-quit-fossil-ifp\/","title":{"rendered":"MPL tells why he quit \u2018fossil\u2019 IFP"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        \t                                <!-- Main Editorial Image --><br \/>\n                    \t\t\t      \t\t\t                                      <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/45e3d_1444192453.jpg\" alt=\"roman liptak\" title=\"\" class=\"pics\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"captions_credit_article\">Supplied<\/p>\n<p class=\"captions\">Former KwaZulu-Natal IFP MPL Roman Liptak, who resigned from the party last week, has broken his silence, saying he left after he was accused of having a dim view of the partys disastrous prospects for the national and provincial elections next year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"captions\">\n<p class=\"related_articles\">Related Stories<\/p>\n<ul class=\"menu_tab_lists_related\">\n<li><a class=\"related_articles\" href=\"http:\/\/www.iol.co.za:80\/news\/politics\/ifp-mpls-not-axed-gwala-1.1525401\">IFP MPLs not axed: Gwala<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><!--PSTYLE=WT Web Text--><\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Durban &#8211; Former KwaZulu-Natal IFP MPL Roman Liptak, who resigned from the party last week, has broken his silence, saying he left after he was accused of having a \u201cdim view\u201d of the party\u2019s \u201cdisastrous\u201d prospects for the national and provincial elections next year. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">In a strongly worded statement to The Mercury, the former IFP finance spokesman said his position in the IFP had been difficult for a long time, and became \u201cuntenable\u201d during the last few weeks before his resignation on May 31. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u00a0 <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">He said he was criticised for his less confrontational and more constructive approach, which, he felt, would be more appealing to the electorate. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Last week, IFP provincial leader Blessed Gwala announced that Liptak, Usha Roopnarain and MJ Mthethwa had resigned as MPLs. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Gwala said Mthethwa had resigned for health reasons, and dismissed suggestions that Liptak and Roopnarain were pressured into resigning. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Liptak told The Mercury that he tried \u201cin vain\u201d to steer the party towards issues of substance through the speeches he drafted for the leader of the official opposition and other leaders. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">But these were \u201cspurned in favour of cheap politicking and arguments that had been lost in the past, such as the IFP\u2019s choice of Ulundi over Pietermaritzburg for KZN\u2019s capital\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cThe IFP is not interested in finding solutions to the challenges faced by the poorest of the poor, whom it presumes to represent. It has done nothing to reverse the legacy of apartheid. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cI did my best to nudge the party forward, but the fossil wouldn\u2019t budge. I could no longer be a member of such an organisation on moral grounds. I have no regrets in my decision to resign.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">The Mercury understands that Liptak was also accused of colluding with the ANC. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Gwala accused Liptak of lying and trying to \u201cpaint a gloomy picture\u201d of the IFP. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cHe didn\u2019t even bother coming to us and resigning. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cWe heard from the speaker, and then he sent his resignation through e-mail,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Roopnarain, who was the spokeswoman for health, had been asked to explain why she declined a national council position, apparently so that she could stay close to her family. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">It is understood that she was given a letter instructing her to resign within a stipulated number of days. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Roopnarain said she would comment when she was ready. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Gwala said Roopnarain \u201cdid not have time for the IFP\u201d, owing to her \u201cother commitments\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">Political analyst Zakhele Ndlovu said elections were around the corner, and the resignations suggested all was not well in the IFP. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">\u201cParties want good publicity around this time, so they can get votes. I suspect the three were forced to resign. The IFP must give a detailed explanation of the resignations.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\">IFP deputy president Mzamo Buthelezi, national council member Petros Msimang, and women\u2019s brigade chairwoman Thembeni Mthethwa have replaced the three in the KZN legislature. <\/p>\n<p class=\"arcticle_text\"><strong>The Mercury<\/strong> <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Supplied Former KwaZulu-Natal IFP MPL Roman Liptak, who resigned from the party last week, has broken his silence, saying he left after he was accused of having a dim view of the partys disastrous prospects for the national and provincial elections next year. Related Stories IFP MPLs not axed: Gwala Durban &#8211; Former KwaZulu-Natal IFP [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[8275,953,2143],"class_list":{"0":"post-20301","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-durban","8":"tag-newspaper","9":"tag-the-mercury","10":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20301\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}