The uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party is leading KwaZulu-Natal’s municipal election count, while the African National Congress has slipped into second place as results continue to come in. By 10:45 on Thursday, only 16 percent of the province’s voting districts had been completed, making the outcome still uncertain.
The Electoral Commission had counted results from 814 of KwaZulu-Natal’s 5,028 voting districts at that stage. The MK Party led with 33 percent of the vote, ahead of the ANC on 25 percent and the Inkatha Freedom Party on 22.2 percent.
The Democratic Alliance stood at 11.5 percent, followed by the Economic Freedom Fighters at 2 percent, the South African Communist Party at 1.13 percent, and the Freedom Front Plus at 0.92 percent. The ANC had won five wards by that point.
The early result underscores the MK Party’s continued strength in the province after its dramatic rise in the 2024 provincial election, when it won 45.35 percent of the vote. Although it topped that poll, it was excluded from government after the IFP, ANC, DA, and National Freedom Party formed a coalition led by IFP Premier Thami Ntuli.
This is the MK Party’s first local government election since former president Jacob Zuma launched the movement in December 2023. Party regional spokesperson Mkhulesi Mlengane said the organisation was pleased with the early results and was awaiting the completion of counting in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal’s only metropolitan municipality.
eThekwini, which includes Durban, is the province’s biggest electoral prize and could significantly shape the balance of power in KwaZulu-Natal. The ANC won 42 percent of the vote there in 2021 and has governed the metro with support from smaller parties since then.
The DA also claimed gains in areas traditionally held by the ANC. Its eThekwini mayoral candidate, Haniff Hoosen, said the party had made substantial progress in some ANC wards while retaining others, including seven new ward victories in KwaDukuza.
Senior ANC figures, including provincial convenor Mike Mabuyakhulu and provincial task team coordinator James Nxumalo, were at the Electoral Commission’s provincial results centre at the Durban International Convention Centre as the count progressed.
With more than four-fifths of voting districts still to be counted, the final result could change substantially. However, the early figures suggest that the MK Party remains a major force in KwaZulu-Natal and that the ANC faces a serious challenge to its traditional support base.