Durban metro is fair game for all parties

The devastating unrest sparked by the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma and the ensuing factional fights in KwaZulu-Natal could cost the ANC dearly in the local government elections. In 2016, the ANC comfortably won the Durban metro, but indications are that it is now fair game for most political hopefuls.

The devastating unrest sparked by the jailing of former president Jacob Zuma and the ensuing factional fights in KwaZulu-Natal could cost the ANC dearly in the local government elections.

In 2016, the ANC comfortably won the Durban metro, but indications are that it is now fair game for most political hopefuls. The unrest, which cost the economy billions of rand as well as scores of jobs, and the factionalism in the ANC — fuelled by the arrest of Zuma and the charging of former mayor Zandile Gumede — could spell poor results for the party.

In the 2016 local government elections the ANC swept the board in the R50bn metro with a 56% win. The DA climbed to 27%, while the IFP was at 4.2% and the EFF at 3.44%.

Current indications are that all parties are contesting wards across the region, but the fight for the eThekwini municipality is top of the agenda. All opposition parties have devised strategies to consolidate and increase their footprint in the region.

EFF KwaZulu-Natal leader Vusi Khoza said the EFF wants to unseat the ANC in the metro and reduce its support to less than 50%. “We are confident that we have fielded the right candidates, and the ANC’s vulnerability works in our favour. We are confident,” he said.

DA national spokesperson MP Siviwe Gwarube said the party’s strategy is a ward-based, ground-up approach.

“That is why we did not field a mayoral candidate. It’s about broadening our footprint and winning, and not necessarily about losing the metro”, Gwarube said.

For the IFP, it is a question of leadership. Corruption has also been rife in the metro, the party said.

“For too long the people of the metro have suffered a lack of stable and strong leadership to deliver on basic services including water and electricity,” said IFP eThekwini metro leader Mdu Nkosi.

Despite all these threats and challenges, the ANC said it was confident it would retain its hold on the metro and the province.

“We are more than ready. We are the only party that had 900 community meetings to select our candidates to contest the local government elections,” spokesperson Nhlakanipho Ntombela said.

“We are comforted by this turn of events and mass support we received during the selection of our candidates.”

In 2016 the ANC won 57.485 of the votes in KwaZulu-Natal, the IFP 18.39%, the DA 15.16% and the EFF 3.46%.

Political analyst Zakhele Ndlovu said while the ANC is vulnerable and has allowed its opponents to capitalise, the fact that voters are “gullible and swayed by T-shirts and food parcels” could play in its favour.

“We see the EFF using the July unrest and the racial divide in Phoenix to galvanise support in the metro. The IFP could surprise us with a stronger showing in this election.”

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC) in KwaZulu-Natal is confident that despite the tight deadlines all is on track for the holding of the local elections. It opened 4,940 voting stations in the province for the registration of voters on Saturday.

Registration figures in the province show that there are 5,331,300 registered voters. Of these, about 1,102,282 consist of youth between the ages of 18 and 29 years.

“The commission is working with various stakeholders to mobilise first-time youth voters to register for the coming elections. Consistent with previous elections’ statistics, women make a higher percentage of voters on the voters roll compared to men, now sitting at 3,014,517 which equals to 56.54% in KwaZulu-Natal,” said IEC provincial spokesperson Thabani Ngwira.