ANC gets trounced in polls
THE Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) won a landslide victory in Nquthu, after yesterday’s by-election in the northern KwaZulu-Natal municipality.
IFP supporters sang and danced mid-morning as they carried a coffin draped with an ANC flag through the Nquthu CBD.
The by-election was held after the municipality failed to elect office-bearers on six different occasions following last year’s August local government elections.
It was the only municipality in the country not to have a mayor.
“The IFP has won 14 wards out of 17, which means that the IFP is going to take over and we rule all in that municipality, and we will also have a representative in Umzinyathi District Municipality,” said Blessed Gwala, the IFP national chairman.
“We are seeing a huge difference in the results because last time (the August 2016 local government elections) we won 10 wards,” he said.
In the run-up to the by-election this week, several high-profile leaders visited the area.
The ANC sent in President Jacob Zuma, deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa and members of the KZN provincial leadership.
The IFP deployed its president Mangosuthu Buthelezi, while the EFF’s Julius Malema and the DA’s Mmusi Maimane also visited Nquthu.
However, as the results started to trickle in during the early hours of this morning it became clear that the IFP had won and had done so convincingly.
Early indications were that the IFP had won 14 wards out of 17.
The ANC managed to win three wards.
Admittedly, the area has traditionally been an IFP stronghold.
In more recent times, voters switched to the National Freedom Party (NFP).
In the 2011 local government elections, the NFP together with the ANC won Nqutu.
What is now clear is that the IFP is taking back support especially in the rural areas of KZN.
It was a trend that emerged during last year’s local government elections.
The resurgent IFP also governs Nkandla, the home of Zuma.
According to Gwala: “The ANC decided to bring its six big guns, not because they were worried about Nquthu, but because they were worried about Umzinyathi.
“This is where the resources are but unfortunately for them, they have lost both the municipalities,” he said.
Even before the announcement was made by the Independent Electoral Commission, ANC members began to concede defeat on social media. Some viewed the by-election as an unofficial referendum on the current leadership of the ANC and were concerned about how the party would fare in the 2019 national elections.
Nomagugu Simelane, ANC spokesperson for the Nquthu election, said the party accepted the results because the people had spoken.
“Election results are the will of the people. It doesn’t mean that when the ANC loses a municipal election then there is crisis. In fact, we never won that municipality in the first place; it was (governed) through a coalition.
“This is democracy so when the people have spoken, theirs is the final word,” she said.
Bheki Mngomezulu, University of the Western Cape political science professor, said the Nquthu issue was a “done deal” going into the elections.
“The ANC and NFP coalition could not get outright control of the municipality and that resulted in this election.
“Given the ANC’s national internal challenges, the IFP had the advantage to plan and canvass.
“The IFP was also then helped by the other smaller opposition parties who do not wish to see the ANC taking the municipality,” Mngomezulu said. – Additional reporting by Chris Ndaliso