The internal dispute over the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party's councillor candidate lists could give the ANC an opportunity to regain support in eThekwini in the November 4 local government elections.
This was the suggestion from a political analyst after the ANC's election campaigning in the municipality at the weekend, which was led by party president Cyril Ramaphosa. Accompanied by provincial and regional leadership, Ramaphosa kicked off the campaign at Mpumalanga township, west of Durban, and crisscrossed eThekwini.
Political analyst Professor Musa Xulu said there could be a resurgence of the ANC in eThekwini due to the MK Party’s internal problems emanating from a list dispute. Some MK Party councillor candidates alleged that, while they were chosen by their communities to represent the party in the ward, their names were allegedly removed and replaced with others on the party's official lists submitted to the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) for the election.
Ramaphosa told party members that the ANC was regaining momentum in KwaZulu-Natal. The province and eThekwini Metro were once strongholds for the ANC but it has suffered a sharp decline in support after securing only 16.9% of the provincial vote in the 2024 national elections.
During the final leg of the campaign in Umlazi on Sunday, eThekwini regional coordinator Thanduxolo Sabelo introduced former MK Party members who returned to the party.
At the Umlazi rally, Sabelo did not mention the MK Party by name but told the cheering crowd that the “stokvel party” was crumbling. Buoyed by the good support, regional convener Thabani Nyawose assured Ramaphosa that the ANC would retain eThekwini Municipality.
Xulu said that Ramaphosa came to eThekwini at the right time as the MK Party was still attending to the lists issue which has left some members disgruntled.
“I think the ANC is taking full advantage of the MK Party’s internal problems, particularly the list issue and Jacob Zuma’s leadership, which appears to be autocratic. I think people who have seen video clips where Zuma was chasing members who wanted to raise issues with him realised how intolerant he is. That was the worst form of dictatorship,” said Xulu.
He added that because many of the MK Party supporters are former ANC members and the ANC is likely to benefit from the fallout in the MK Party over the list issue in eThekwini.
The MK Party convener in KwaZulu-Natal, Willies Mchunu, dismissed any suggestion that the list issue will derail the party's drive to take over eThekwini.
He said that the matter of the elections list changes had been handled and that genuine members of the party had been told what is being done about the issue.
“Although not happy that it happened at all, now that we have been caught in its effects, comrades are agreeing that to not vote MK Party is to prolong the period of non-delivery of services as expected for the next five years,” Mchunu said.
“With the above positions, we still believe that we will win all the economically viable municipalities, the first one of them being eThekwini Metro,” he said.
willem.phungula@nationalmg.co.za