THEY CAME FOR HER. THEY CAME FOR THE SOUL OF A PROVINCE. ONE WOMAN STOPPED THEM.
In a scene of CHAOS and raw political violence, the fate of KwaZulu-Natal—and its R150 BILLION budget—came down to a single vote. The vote of a former dishwasher. Mbali Shinga, a woman in mourning for her mother, stood ALONE against the mob and saved the province from a hostile takeover by Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party.
The evidence is VICIOUS and undeniable. During the showdown in the legislature, MK members YELLED insults, jostled with opponents, and SPRAYED WATER in a crass display of brute force. MK party members block KwaZulu-Natal legislature Speaker Nontembeko Boyce from leaving during MK’s march to oust the KZN premier in Pietermaritzburg on 15 December 2025. (Photo: Gallo Image / Darren Stewart) Their gleeful supporters egged them on. Police had to OUTMUSCLE them. This was not politics. This was a warning.
And at the center of it all was Shinga. Her crime? Voting with her conscience. Defying her own party president, Ivan Barnes—who had SOLD OUT to MK and the EFF in a backroom deal for power. NFP leader Ivan Barnes. (Photo: Facebook) Shinga bore the brunt of the catcalling, the “disgusting behaviour.” They thought she would break. She did not.
But why does this matter? Because this is the BLUEPRINT. This is how democracy dies—not with a bang, but with bullying, with threats, with a mob overwhelming the rules. The attacks on Shinga and Speaker Boyce were an assault on EVERY woman in this country. As the IFP’s Mkhuleko Hlengwa said, “If we want a rules-based society to be a reality, it must find expression in its leaders.”
The silence is DEAFENING. Who benefits from this chaos? The tenderpreneurs and traditionalists salivating over that R150-billion prize. Who stays silent? The political machines that enable this toxic violence. Shinga now lives under 24-hour police guard. Her family is at risk. She whispers through tears not about the threats, but about missing her late mother. The grief is heavier than the politics.
She stood on principle: “I am standing for justice and precedent. This is down to the emancipation of women.” But her own party is now trying to DESTROY her. Barnes sent a suspension letter. He tried to have her RECALLED. It is a naked, desperate grab for the power she denied him.
One woman’s courage exposed the rotten core of our politics, where deals are made in shadows and loyalty is worthless. The mob was defeated by a single vote…for now.
Remember her face when they come for you next.
Author: Kayitsi.com
