MK party 'encouraged' by KZN by-election showing

Jacob Zuma's two-month-old MK party recorded another strong showing, securing 28% of the vote in a by-election in Phongolo, Zululand.

This is a notable increase from the 21% the party received in its debut by-election in Vryheid, in northern KwaZulu-Natal.

“It's a two-month-old party that is competing with organisations that have been around for a long time — this shows that people are tired of the status quo, they want change,” MK spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndlela said.

While the results failed to bring about change, with the IFP retaining both wards, Ndlela said they were “encouraging”. 

In ward 2 in Phongolo, the IFP retained its seat with 890 votes. MK managed to get 687 votes, while the ANC garnered 595 votes and the EFF only 52 votes.

Ndlela said MK’s electoral performance strength was an indication that people wanted change. 

“We are an organisation that is yet to put together a manifesto or policies. What we are seeing is a response that people want change and they have realised MK is the only party that can bring about that change. 

“We don't see this as an MK win, we see it as the people winning, they are in the driving seat not politicians, their destiny is not controlled by some politician — that is the MK difference,” he said.

While MK has only participated in electoral contests in KwaZulu-Natal, the party said it must not be viewed as a regional party. 

“The perception that we are a KZN party is a false narrative — we started rallies here because KZN is a very important province in terms of numbers and in elections you leverage as much of your strong base as possible. Our leadership is diverse and our presence is in all nine provinces,” Ndlela said. 

“We are happy, but for us it means we have to do more work, we want to win,” he added.

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