Political parties within the KwaZulu-Natal Government of Provincial Unity (GPU) are jostling to meet with the National Freedom Party (NFP) in a bid to convince it to stay within the shaky coalition and keep the MK Party at bay.

The African National Congress (ANC) was the first to request an urgent meeting following the NFP’s announcement last Friday that it was withdrawing from the GPU. That move threatens to collapse the coalition or leave it vulnerable to a hostile takeover.

In a letter to the leadership of the NFP, the coordinator of the ANC’s provincial task team in the province, Mike Mabuyakhulu, said they want to meet with the party because its decision to leave the GPU will have far-reaching consequences now and in the future.

After days of silence, the NFP has now agreed to meet with the ANC later this week.

On Tuesday, Democratic Alliance (DA) provincial chairperson Dean Macpherson also wrote to the NFP requesting a meeting to iron out differences and save the GPU from total collapse.

Macpherson emphasized that stable governance is of utmost importance to all the residents who call it home.

“We still regard the NFP as partners for progress in KwaZulu-Natal and have always had cordial relations with your party during our engagements and in government. As the Democratic Alliance in KwaZulu-Natal, we would welcome an opportunity to meet with your leadership to better understand some of the issues that have been raised publicly by your President (Ivan Barnes) and seek solutions to them as a partner in the province,” Macpershon said in the letter.

Meanwhile, the MK Party has also written to the NFP and asked for a meeting. The party seeks to woo the NFP into an alliance with the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which would give the bloc 40 of the 80 seats in the provincial legislature and unseat the current IFP-ANC-DA coalition.