In the South African election, Jacob Zuma's new party comes out on top. After being barred from running for office, the former president made an astonishing comeback, seizing a portion of the vote from the once-untouchable ANC. The captivating Zuma is still well-liked despite scandals and accusations of corruption, especially among the more than 10 million other Zulus in the nation.
Remarkably, former South African president Jacob Zuma returned to politics as the head of a party that had only been around for a few months but already held the third-largest share in the country. Due to a contempt conviction, the 82-year-old Zuma was not allowed to participate in this week's general election. His previous administration is frequently linked to the seizure of the state by unscrupulous forces. He has, however, overthrown the formerly impregnable ANC majority and won control of his home province under the leadership of uMkhonto weSizwe (MK), a group that was only founded eight months ago.
With 60% of the votes counted as of Friday afternoon, Zuma's MK was leading the ANC by 43% to 18 in the politically significant province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
The center-right Democratic Alliance (DA) and the ANC, whose vote share dropped from nearly 57 percent in 2019 to 42 percent on Wednesday, were the only two candidates behind the newcomers with over 12 percent of the vote in the national contest. The ANC or the Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has historically dominated KZN, which is home to Durban, the nation's second-biggest metropolis and primary port.
"As anticipated, the MK has also decreased the votes of the ANC and the IFP," said Siphamandla Zondi, a politics lecturer at the University of Johannesburg. KwaZulu-Natal province has had horrendous power outages, issues with the water system, and inadequate municipal administration, much like the rest of the country. The provincial leadership of the ANC has also been plagued by factionalism and internal turmoil. Earlier this month, the ANC Veterans League warned that the party would lose support because of "weak" leadership in the province.
Because of the composition of the province and its people, "losing votes in KZN affected the ANC nationally significantly," said Sihawukele Ngubane, a professor of African languages at the University of Kwa Zulu-Natal (UKZN). However, political analyst and UKZN politics lecturer Lubna Nadvi said the ANC was not losing significant influence nationally just because of its upset in KZN. "Its poor performance in all of the various areas it has been governing is the reason it has dropped below 50%," the speaker stated.
Analysts claim that disenchanted KZN voters acted in droves because their main demand was a change in leadership.
"They are largely gravitating towards what they know, which is the personality and image of Jacob Zuma," Nadvi stated of KZN voters. After the former leader of the ANC declared in December that he would run for the MK, the ANC suspended him. The captivating Zuma is still well-liked despite scandals and accusations of corruption, especially among the more than 10 million Zulus in the nation.
"Do these voters not know that Zuma has been implicated in these things, or do they know but choose to ignore it and still vote for him?" is a question that is raised by this. stated Nadvi. The MK party was unknown, having entered the general elections for the first time. In the unlikely event that it gains control of KZN, no candidate for provincial premier or local leadership has been put out, and not much is known about the party's organizational structure.
When it comes to governance, MK is an unproven institution with no history, according to Nadvi.
