The ANC is said to be desperate to regain lost support in the province.
The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party has submitted a written complaint to the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) against the ANC leadership in KwaZulu-Natal.
MK party secretary-general Floyd Shivambu posted a letter he wrote to the IEC on his X account on Thursday.
Shivambu said ANC cadres in the KZN government are using service delivery events to campaign, with the hopes of influencing the results of various by-elections.
‘Abuse of government resources’
“The uMkhonto weSizwe party noted with dismay and shock a poster purported to be issued by the MEC for health in KwaZulu-Natal province, Nomagugu Simelane, inviting community members to a government event on the eve of a local by-election in ward 4, Mpofana local municipality,
Shivambu said the events that Simelane hosted before the by-elections were meant to influence voters to vote for the ANC.
“The ANC in KwaZulu Natal is abusing government resources by misusing government budgets for party political campaigns in by-elections,” Shivambu wrote.
“In Mandeni ward 18 they channeled a government event to the ward four days before elections and used government resources to campaign for the ANC.
“We defeated them despite misuse of government resources. They are now doing the same thing in Mpofana ward 4, taking a government programme four days before elections.”
Playing fair
Shivambu is responsible for building MK structures in KZN.
He said he expects the ANC to use ethical means of campaigning for elections.
“We support government going to the people but abuse of state resources for partisan programmes and campaigns is unacceptable. Come Wednesday next week, MK will win ward 4 in Mpofana despite corrupt and dirty games by the ANC,” he said.
The ANC’s mother body has made some changes in the leadership of the party in the province.
This follows the party’s poor performance at the general elections in 2024. The province received 17% of the provincial votes. The Citizen reached out to the ANC for comment on the matter but there was no response at the time this article was published.
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Political analyst weighs in
Meanwhile. Theo Neethling, a political analyst from University of Free State (UFS) told The Citizen that the MK’s complaint is not surprising since the ANC is now on the back foot in the province.
“The ANC is desperate to redeem themselves in KZN and are seeking to recover from a drastic decline. We should not forget that they plunged from 54% to 17%. That was a massive wake up call and it forced the ANC to go into a coalition arrangement with other parties,” he said.
Neethling said KZN and Gauteng are two strategically important provinces for the ANC.
“KZN is an important province as far as the ANC is concerned but it is unlikely that the party can make a strong comeback in the short term. I am not prepared to speak about the medium term but in the short term it is unlikely,” he said,
Despite this, Neethling said the MK also has its own problems, including the succession question and the criticism about Zulu nationalism in the party.
“Everything in the MK revolves around Jacob Zuma. That is a strong point but it is also in the same sense a weak point because we do not know what will come after Zuma.
“What will happen in the post-Zuma era is an open question and it might even cause some trouble if former president Jacob Zuma is no longer there. The leadership of this party has basically been appointed by president Jacob Zuma that is the strong point of the party but it is also a weak point,” he said.
Neethling said the Zuma factor could help the MK party do well in next year’s local government elections.
He said a scenario where the ANC is in charge of the national government and the MK party was in charge of municipalities in KZN is possible,
“At this point the ANC is weak and they need to be in a coalition to have some say in governance. The question is can the MK become strong beyond KZN?” he said.
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