With three weeks to go to the May 29 elections, the ANC is pulling out everything in its arsenal to woo voters in KwaZulu-Natal, which has emerged as one of the country's most fiercely contested battle grounds in the upcoming polls.
The party resolved to deploy some of its top leaders to campaign in the province from Tuesday such as its national chairperson Gwede Mantashe, secretary-general Fikile Mbalula and the SACP's Solly Mapaila.
ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa and first deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane were also expected to campaign in the province.
The ANC, in its intensified campaign, is targeting its strongholds in 2,500 voting districts to discourage low voter turnout and ensure the ANC retains its majority in the national election.
The final-push campaign will take place across the province, with officials roving about in all regions while the rest of national executive members are distributed equally across regions, said provincial spokesperson Mafika Mndebele.
The ANC will be joined by alliance partners including members of Cosatu’s central committee and civic organisation Sanco, while SACP secretary-general Mapaila and his top five are already in KwaZulu-Natal.
The campaign is expected to take place over seven days.
“The plan is not region based but a VD-based (voter district) one. We are targeting 2,500 voting stations which research indicates as our stronghold.
“The plan is not to have rallies but to basically go to these areas and fight for a (higher) turnout even in VDs where we have a good turnout where the elections are good in KZN,” Mndebele said.
Despite the latest Ipsos poll indicating that ANC support could fall to 40.2% while Jacob Zuma's MK party could receive as much as 8.4% of the votes, Mndebele said the KwaZulu-Natal final push is more concerned about ANC voters going out to vote than winning new voters.
“It's not about the difference, it's a research-based campaign, we have over 4,000 voting stations [where] the ANC gets the majority and about 2,500 are historically our strongholds. What has affected us previously is that people will not come out to vote.”
The ANC is under pressure to maintain its majority — 54.2% in the 2019 election — amid a real threat from Zuma's MK Party and stronger challenges from the IFP and the DA.
The final-push campaign comes hot on the heels of Ramaphosa’s recent campaign in eThekwini during which he predicted a clear majority for the ANC despite the emergence of the MK Party.
With 5.7 million registered voters, KwaZulu-Natal accounts for just over 20% of the country’s the country's electorate, making it the province with the second highest number of voters after Gauteng.
The ANC believes its chances hinge on a higher voter turnout and a campaign of visibility and interaction with voters.
Previously, Sunday Times reported that the ANC campaign will prioritise five regions that are ANC strongholds — eThekwini, Moses Mabhida in Pietermaritzburg, Tolomane Mnyayiza in Port Shepstone, General Gizenga Mpanza in KwaDukuza and Harry Gwala's Umzimkhulu areas.
These areas, the party had said have the highest population of ANC voters and are places where people will go out in numbers to vote for the ANC if encouraged.
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