By Zukile Majova
Political Editor
Former president Jacob Zuma’s MK party may have won most of the votes in KwaZulu-Natal, but it is unlikely to rule the province.
A coalition of parties including the ANC, the IFP, the DA and the NFP is ganging up against the Zuma party to keep it out of power.
The coalition is driven by two fears; one being that the MK party could consolidate its support ahead of the 2026 municipal elections, and also that it could bankrupt the province within a few months in power.
It’s a nasty surprise facing the coalition of the MK party, which received 45.94% of the vote in KZN, and its friends the EFF (2.56%).
The MK party is short of just one seat to rule in the province.
And so with a single seat, the NFP, a splinter of the IFP and long term ally of the ANC in KZN, is the kingmaker in the province.
The ANC coalition is expected to back IFP candidate Thami Ntuli to be the premier of KZN.
Political parties have found the MK party and the EFF as undesirable partners in coalitions, with the EFF having a particularly poor track record in previous coalitions with the ANC, the DA and the IFP.
The EFF collapsed the governing DA-led coalition in the City of Johannesburg and started a working relationship with the ANC.
The ANC has now accused the EFF of being the source of instability in their partnership in the Ekurhuleni metro.
The IFP in KZN once ruled over a dozen hung municipalities in that province with the EFF, until the EFF walked out of that coalition to partner with the ANC.
The MK party has been a wrecking ball in South African politics, even campaigning against the country’s Constitution.
This week, it took Parliament to the Constitutional Court to block the opening ceremony, scheduled for 14 June.
The party also rejected the election results announced by the IEC on 2 June and accused the commission of working with the ANC and the DA to rig the elections.
Having won the premier candidate position in the ANC coalition, the IFP appears destined to win a powerful position in the national government. Its leader, Velenkosini Hlabisa, is being punted as a second deputy president in a future Government of National Unity.
Pictured above: Thami Ntuli is being backed as premier of KZN.
Source: X
