South Africans head to another round of by-elections in the country next week Wednesday, when 29 candidates from 16 political parties will contest vacant wards in the Eastern Cape, Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo.
One of two vacant wards in KwaZulu-Natal is ward 29 at KwaDukuza, north of Durban.
The ANC has been one of the biggest losers and lost 51 of the 296 ward by-elections they contested. But it also retained 143 of the 182 wards the party won during the 2021 local government elections.
Political Science Lecturer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Zakhele Ndlovu, says that the ANC will continue to lose support while the MK Party and Inkatha Freedom Party may produce good results.
“My prediction would be that we are likely to see the MK Party winning some support in some municipalities and of course, and then the IFP and then the ANC. But, I think the ANC is going to drop, it is going to continue to drop support or lose support and then of course you have the DA. It is going to be interesting to see if the DA is going to perform better in the local government elections compared to the general elections.”
VIDEO | MK Party leader Jacob Zuma has called on party members to come out in their numbers to vote in ward 28 in KwaDukuza, KwaZulu-Natal:
Meanwhile, Political Commentator Professor Bheki Mngomezulu says there has been keen interest in the performance of the newcomer, the MK Party, which has not yet contested local government elections.
“But lately we have seen the MK Party picking up, as was the case in places like Newcastle, and Ray Nkonyeni and other parts of KwaZulu-Natal. This tells you that what has been taken as a given that the ANC was going to win each and every by-election, is now something of the past. The EFF support has waned and I think there is a lot of work that the party has to do going forward including of course, the upcoming by-election in KwaDukuza and other areas.”
