Johnathan Paoli
As more votes are being audited and to the surprise of many, the uMkhonto weSizwe party has overtaken the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) as the third largest party in the country.
On the national level, 51.92% of the votes have been counted, with the African National Congress (ANC) leading at 42.34%, the Democratic Alliance (DA) with 23.39% and MK at 10.77%.
In addition, the MK is leading other political parties including the ANC and the EFF in terms of votes cast in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, with it being number two in Mpumalanga.
With 37.43% of KZN results captured so far, the MK party is currently sitting at 44.86%, followed by the ANC with 18.94% and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has taken the third place with 17.42%.
Opposition parties, the DA and EFF are trailing behind with 12.72% and 2.19% respectively.
In terms of Mpumalanga, the MK party is maintaining second place with 17.57%%, after the ANC’s 48.79%
The national and provincial elections this week saw one of the biggest voter turnout since the start of the democratic dispensation in 1994, with many calling this a watershed moment in the history of South Africa.
Speaking at a media briefing at the Results Operations Centre in Midrand, Duduzile Zuma-Sambudla said MK members were confident and excited about the incoming results.
“The guys here at the MK table can’t stop smiling. We can’t say for sure, but we are very happy with the incoming results,” she said.
Zuma-Sambudla said the party was open to coalitions with any progressive Black parties that push for the return of the land, nationalisation, and other forms of radical transformation and she cited the EFF.
When asked about the possibility of a coalition with the ANC, Zuma-Sambudla said the ruling party has shown itself not to be progressive.
“The ANC is not a progressive party as long as it’s run by Ramaphosa,” she said.
Meanwhile, the MK spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela has condemned remarks by both the ANC’s Gwede Mantashe and DA’s Helen Zille, characterising the party’s electoral success in KZN as a product of Zulu nationalism.
“This intellectual laziness from both the ANC of Ramaphosa and its incoming coalition partner, the DA, enrages the MK party, as it threatens the building of a united, non-racial, non-sexist and prosperous South Africa that the MK party strives to build,” Ndhlela said.
INSIDE POLITICS
