By Zukile Majova
Political Editor
The ANC sees the resurgent IFP in KwaZulu-Natal as a far bigger threat to its dominance in the province than Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto Wesizwe.
ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe said the ruling party was more concerned about the growth of the IFP in the province than MK.
Polls predict that MK could take 25% of the KZN vote, giving it a real shot at creating a future coalition government in the province.
Mantashe said the ANC expects MK to take voters from each of the main parties including the ANC, the IFP, EFF and DA.
“I am putting my head on the block, we will get results in KZN. The most troublesome party to us will be the IFP, not the MK.”
Mantashe told the public broadcaster that the ANC was trying to win the election without having to form a coalition at national government level.
The ANC strongman said coalitions did not work for the ANC.
All indications, however, are that both the IFP and the ANC will need coalition partners to form a government in KZN.
The ruling party is already in an alliance with the EFF at the local government level in the province.
But that coalition has been losing by-elections to the increasingly stronger alliance between the IFP and the DA.
The ANC and EFF coalition is also at risk of collapsing because of the emergence of the MK.
EFF leader Julius Malema and Zuma have long intimated that the two parties could work together in future as they share similar goals.
The EFF is unhappy with its coalition with the ANC in eThekwini, Ekurhuleni and Johannesburg.
The strongest coalition in KZN, however, is that of the IFP with the DA and members of the broad Multi-Party Charter for SA, which includes ActionSA, the Freedom Front Plus and the ACDP.
With President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government still prosecuting Zuma for fraud and corruption, the two parties are not likely to form a coalition after the 29 May election.
Pictured above: The ANC is rightly concerned about the growth of the IFP.
Source: X
