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| Delwyn Verasamy/M&G |
The visit by President Cyril Ramaphosa and a delegation from the ANC’s national working committee to KwaZulu-Natal last weekend followed deep concerns about several missteps and faux pas by provincial party leaders that have led to the defeat of the ANC in by-elections. The eThekwini metro was placed under a Section 154 intervention, and the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education handed a R2-billion contract to an inexperienced company to feed millions of learners from low-income families in more than 5,000 schools. The ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula was at pains to explain that the national working committee was not in the province to disband the ANC leadership but to boost the capacity of the provincial leadership. The PEC’s report to the working committee said the ruling party is not facing existential threats in KwaZulu-Natal and can still win the province in the 2024 general elections. The General Gizenga Mpanza region faces severe challenges, with factions at each other’s throats in a battle for supremacy.
Two wards were lost to the opposition, where the ANC dropped, and the IFP grew by the same proportion. The PEC feels strongly that if they are to succeed in the general elections in 2024, they need all provincial league structures constituted adequately so that they run campaigns within the sectors they represent and are organising. The ANC is seeing growth and a decline in support in the by-elections and losing wards due to the DA and IFP joint venture tactic. The Zulu king and traditional leaders still hold the province of KwaZulu-Natal under challenging circumstances. The KwaZulu-Natal ANC and the provincial government it controls are taking the flak for handling issues around the new king, Zulu King Misuzulu kaZwelithini, and traditional leadership in general.
Last week, King Misuzulu complained that he was not getting respect and was not allowed the flexibility to perform his duties. The ANC delegation went to one of the king’s palaces to pay their respects, bearing ten oxen and other gifts in an apparent effort to curry favour with him. Professor Bheki Mngomezulu, a political analyst based at the University of the Western Cape, said that political parties exploit the role of traditional leaders for their electoral good. He said the issues of the Zulu monarch and traditional leadership would play pivotal roles in the upcoming poll.
The KwaZulu-Natal ANC leadership is young and doesn't have the gravitas to compete against the likes of the IFP's Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Blessed Gwala, who have developed a strategy to endear themselves to the Zulu monarch and traditional leaders in general. In the first democratic elections in 1994, the ANC was beaten by the IFP, getting 32.2% of the vote to the IFP's 50.3%. In 1999, when Jacob Zuma was elected as ANC deputy president and became more visible, the ANC narrowed the gap, garnering 39.3% to the IFP's 41.9%. In 2004, when Zuma was the country's deputy president, the ANC trounced the IFP for the first time, garnering 46.9% of the vote to the IFP's 36.8%. In 2009, when Zuma's face was on the ballot box as the ANC presidential candidate, the party annihilated the IFP, gaining 62.9% of the vote to the IFP's 22.4%.
The ANC delegation’s visit to KwaZulu-Natal was “too little, too late”, according to political analyst Protas Madlala. He said the PEC had dug itself into a deeper hole through sheer arrogance, how it had discarded former leaders, and because the provincial government had failed to deliver essential services such as electricity and water. However, Buthelezi and other leaders have revived the IFP. If the current trends continue, the IFP will head the next KwaZulu-Natal government after the 2024 general elections. The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal is a shadow of its former self, with strong leadership during the times of S’bu Ndebele and Zweli Mkhize.
This article is originally published by the dailymaverick.co.za under South African News Updates
