People vote against ANC in ballots

‘Party should be getting worried’

The people have spoken and they don’t want the ANC.

That’s the warning from KZN independent political analyst Protas Madlala who has described the ANC’s humiliating defeat by the IFP in Nquthu as a “serious indictment that should get the party worried”.

The ruling party also suffered a defeat in Beaufort West in the Western Cape to the DA which attained almost 57% of the vote in a by-election there on Wednesday. The district was once an ANC stronghold.

The Independent Electoral Commission confirmed yesterday that the IFP won the byelection in Nquthu on Wednesday increasing its seats from 15 to 19 in the northern KZN 33seat municipality it lost at the hands of the ANC/NFP coalition six years ago.

The DA and the EFF each retained their seats. The IFP lion’s share of the council seats means it will no longer require a coalition to govern both Nquthu and the uMzinyathi district.

“For me it’s a serious indictment. I think it should get the ANC worried but you know them, they never got worried about the [local government election] results in August last year,” said Madlala. “They went into a denial mode and even now they will be in a denial mode yet they were so sure that there was going to be a landslide victory for them.

“They threw all their heavyweights [into Nquthu] and what else could have they done. I would be worried if I was the ruling party. But the people have spoken and they have said ‘ANC we don’t like you’.”