Clear IFP victory ‘no surprise’
Wake-up call for divided ANC ahead of 2019
BEFORE it can win the confidence of the electorate, the ANC will first have to regain the confidence of its own members.
This was the observation by political analyst Bheki Mngomezulu shortly after the ANC had suffered a series of defeats in wards in the Nquthu by-elections in northern KwaZulu-Natal.
A resurgent IFP won 14 out of the 17 contested wards.
The ANC won just three wards as voters put their faith in the IFP to lead this municipality.
Mngomezulu said the IFP’s victory confirmed what had always been known – that there was a problem within the ANC which made it difficult for it to take control of a number of municipalities, not only in KZN, but throughout the country.
“Factionalism in KZN has ripped the party apart, making it difficult for the ANC to win the by-elections. The ANC is aware of this situation.
“This is why it sent most of its senior members to canvass in Nquthu, because it is aware there is a crisis it needs to manage from within.”
Mngomezulu said the IFP’s victory was not a surprise. Given the ANC’s troubles, it was always going to emerge victorious.
He said the result would not necessarily set the tone for the 2019 general election for the ANC, but the ruling party should take it as a wake-up call because they were aware of factions but did not resolve them in time for the by-elections.
“It’s important that the result in Nquthu instils more urgency into the party leader- ship to accelerate the process of trying to regain the confidence of its own members before it gets the confidence of the electorate,” Mngomezulu said.
He added that the ANC had enough time to regroup ahead of the 2019 elections. But he warned that the party would have to handle its national elective conference in December well because this had the potential to divide the party even further.
Super Zuma, the ANC KZN secretary-general, said their heavy defeat in Nquthu would not have a bearing on their fortunes in 2019 because they had never won the Nquthu municipality alone. It had always been an IFP municipality.
The ANC co-governed the northern KZN municipality with the NFP following the 2011 local government elections.
“It is not a huge blow. It’s not that they are taking it from us,” said Zuma.
He said they would analyse the results to find out what happened and added that there had been a trend of other parties voting for the IFP to allow it to win wards.
Despite the results, Zuma said, the ANC had done enough to deeply entrench itself in the conscience of voters in Nquthu between February, when the provincial government dissolved the municipality, and Wednesday’s election.
Ndabe Sibiya, KZN Premier Willies Mchunu’s spokesperson, said the premier was happy that the elections were free and fair, and Mchunu had been in Nquthu with members of the executive council to ensure there was a climate of peace and stability.
He said Mchunu had over- seen leaders of political parties sign a pledge committing themselves to allow for free political activity.
The result in Nquthu will see the IFP occupy 19 of the council’s 33 seats, while the ANC will have 11.
IFP spokesperson Blessed Gwala said they had been quietly confident of success in the by-election because the people of Nquthu trusted the IFP, and had witnessed the “maladministration and false promises of the previous administration”.
“We went to the electorate with the simple message of trust and they responded with confidence. We did not campaign using state resources and grand promises of service delivery,” Gwala said.