ANC will come out of elections victorious like a ‘wounded tiger’, says buoyant Mokonyane

When all odds are stacked against it, the ANC has always been able to fight back and emerge victorious — and the May 29 elections will be no different.

This is according to the ANC’s first deputy secretary-general Nomvula Mokonyane, who on Tuesday was campaigning in Pietermaritzburg as part of the party’s provincewide blitz this week.

Mokonyane was referring to polls that have predicted that the ANC's support will dip below 50%, with some suggesting the governing party, which received 62% of the vote in 2014 and 57% in 2019 national and provincial polls, might fail to garner 40% in 2024.

Said to be the toughest election for the ANC since 1994, pollsters have been releasing surveys that paint a bleak future for the ANC.

The studies suggest that to govern, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s party will have to enter into some form of coalition arrangements at national and provincial levels.

But the ANC, Mokonyane argues, has never received glowing polling ahead of any elections. 

“We have never been polled on the positive as the ANC, and I think that’s what makes the ANC stronger. Throw us in a corner and we'll come out like a wounded tiger, and that's what we're doing,” she said.

She insists the party will win these elections with a comfortable majority, especially in KwaZulu-Natal, where it has been predicted the ANC is likely to lose badly, especially since the emergence of the Jacob Zuma-led MK Party.

We've also noticed how some of those doing the polling are associated with our opponents, and that on its own just invalidates objectivity in that regard.

—  Nomvula Mokonyane

“The ANC will win, we don't go to battle and doubt ourselves. There won't be anything below 51% in KwaZulu-Natal, and that will happen because we have encouraged all our volunteers to make sure we start with family and friends, with our neighbours, with our people in the streets and those that we associate with to be the first to come out on election day. So we were going to win KZN, and we're going to govern KZN alone,” said Mokonyane.

The ANC’s elections head Mdumiseni Ntuli and Mokonyane will next week release the ANC’s final internal polling that was conducted among 5,000 people.

It is this polling, Mokonyane says, that will give a true indication of the party’s prospects on May 29. 

“Yes, we have done polling. Our last polling will be out next week. Myself and comrade Mdumiseni [Ntuli] will share with the officials the results of that polling,” she said.

Mokonyane’s comments about pollsters diving into the political space comes after it emerged that there are some pollstersare linked to political parties.

“Polls are there as an estimate, and we don’t undermine polls, but we know that in many instances for us as the ANC polls also give us enthusiasm to do better. We've also noticed how some of those doing the polling are associated with our opponents, and that on its own just invalidates objectivity in that regard. But we rely on the polls that are not conflicted in terms of political belonging. We also are quite comfortable with the report from Stats SA about the performance of the South African government,” she said.

Mokonyane was speaking on the sidelines of her door-to-door campaign in Msunduzi, where she was visiting households to convince them to give the ANC another chance.

Among other households, Mokonyane visited the Xulus, where the family confirmed all 13 of them would be voting for the ANC.

They are loyal to the ANC after its councillors are said to have intervened when their house was on the brink of collapse and built them a new one.

This was the same sentiment when Mokonyane visited Magdeline Hlengwa, who is also set to receive a house.

The Hlengwas’ house was damaged by the floods that rocked KZN in 2022, causing billions of rand worth of damage. .