MK Party will not rescue parties rejected by voters, says Duduzane Zuma

With the voting results showing that several municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal will be hung, the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party has drawn the line in the sand, saying it will not enter into coalition arrangement with political parties who were rejected by the electorate.

“These coalition talks are critical as to who we engage. We don’t want to be in a situation where we find ourselves resurrecting people who were expelled by the electorate. There are people who have messed up,” asserted Duduzane Zuma, the MK party deputy president and party’s head of coalition negotiations.

Zuma was addressing reporters at the Durban results operating centre. The three year-old MK party was the biggest winner, especially in the KZN province snatching several municipalities from the ANC, from which the splinter party came. It was a similar picture during the party’s maiden provincial and national elections where it led the pack in the province, recording about 45% of the provincial vote share.

Although the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has not officially released the results, the completed counting of votes showed that the MK party snatched the KZN midlands region, based in Richmond, from the ANC.

Former president Jacob Zuma’s party secured 56% of the votes, giving it a majority. The ANC had previously made a clean sweep in the council, attaining just over 70% of the electoral support during the 2021 municipal elections. The MKP also recorded victory in the uMshwathi municipality, which is also in the midlands, receiving just over 47% of the vote share.

The council was previously governed by the ANC.

The MK party also gained Impendle, a troubled council under the uMgungundlovu district. It was also formerly governed by the ANC. It was the same municipality where ANC councillors ganged up against their own comrade, Buyisani Mlaba, and voted with opposition parties to remove him as mayor.

The MK party also snatched the Johannes Phumani Phungula municipality from the ANC, gaining just over 48% electoral support. Depending on how coalition negotiations pan out, the party is also likely to be in government in some of the province’s key municipalities, including the City of uMhlathuze anchored in Richards Bay, eThekwini metro, which is the heart of the provincial economy and the Pietermaritzburg-based Msunduzi local municipality.