Leader of the National Freedom Party, Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi has resigned from Parliament to focus on building her party.

KaMagwaza-Msibi is also a former deputy minister of science and technology appointed by former president Jacob Zuma.

"I can confirm that the president of the NFP, Honourable Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi has sent her letter of resignation to Parliament, with intentions to actually focus on the party and considering that maybe it was in due time for her to actually consider the retirement. There are many reasons which one can consider, but amongst many, it was actually to take rest considering the health of the president but amongst that other reasons, she felt that its time for her to actually retire after having been the deputy minister,” party spokesperson Simo Mkhwanazi told the SABC on Friday.

The NFP was formed in 2011 after several members of the Inkatha Freedom Party left the party, led by KaMagwaza-Msibi. She suffered a stroke in 2014 and was mostly absent from public life until this 2016 when she made an appearance in June at the party’s manifesto launch for local elections. The party was however absent on the ballot paper after the IEC disqualified it for not paying the election registration fee on time.