Durban — Phoenix residents seeking assistance from their local IFP office in the area will first have to show proof of being a registered member of the party.
The IFP currently does not control any of the wards in Phoenix.
In a message that went out to the party’s service delivery groups in Phoenix, IPF councillor Jonathan Annipen said “ ... the IFP did not perform as well as we (the local leadership) expected”.
“It is my personal belief, given the incomparable amount of work the IFP put in throughout Phoenix, our support should have been overwhelmingly greater. Regrettably, this was not the case. “It is for us to now ensure that we safeguard our position in this town by implementing some serious administrative practices.”
Annipen said the work they had put in did not translate to votes.
He said the party had service delivery WhatsApp groups in every ward and the participants in these groups were in excess of 1 000 each, attended to through about 45 office appointments daily, apart from people walking in for assistance.
“I personally helped more than 7 000 individuals get prepaid electricity boxes, and 124 to get onto the indigent support register in eThekwini.
“If we total the number of people who received write-offs on their municipal bills, it is in excess of millions of rand,” Annipen said.
“I thought that the support we got at the polls was not equivalent to the work we did.”
In preparing for the 2026 local government elections and considering the interests of the party, Annipen said he decided that “if you come to our office you have to be a registered voter, show proof of being registered in the district you live in, and be a card-carrying member of the IFP.
“I cannot implement that in my council office as it violates the code of conduct, but I can implement it with my area leaders because they are not public representatives,” he said.
Some of the new practices introduced at their office and through their social media platforms include that persons who wish to be attended to at Annipen's office must produce proof of voter registration, must complete a membership application form and pay the necessary application fees before receiving an IFP membership card.
“They must produce an IFP membership number and they must belong to a local branch and attend the branch meetings or conferences, etc.
“To be a part of the ward-based service delivery groups they will be required to produce their IFP membership number.”
Annipen said the IFP membership fee was a once-off R20 a person, valid for a year.
“These mechanisms have become needed to ensure better outcomes for the IFP in the upcoming 2026 local government elections.
“We find it disturbing that despite all our efforts to support our communities, the same support was not reciprocated during the 2024 general elections.
“I expect that this message will be construed by our opponents as being ‘sore losers’ but it will be seen in days to come that the only losers will be those who voted for the current ward leadership,” said Annipen.
He said they wanted to build their support base in Phoenix.
“We appreciate the support that we did receive and noted a significant increase in support, but I think we could have done much better,” he said.
He said their plan was to establish a branch in every voting district.
Sunday Tribune