South Africa: IFP Continues On Its Winning Ways

13 October 2022
Scrolla (Johannesburg)
By Lungani Zungu

The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has put another victory notch in its belt after winning another by-election in KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday.

The party's Khanyisile Mbotho is now the new councillor of Ward 11 in the uMuziwabantu Municipality in Harding on the south coast.

The IFP got zero votes in this ward in the 2021 November local elections but bagged 55% on Wednesday.

The ward was previously in the hands of Al Jama-Ah but was up for grabs after its councillor resigned.

Al Jama-Ah, which won the ward by 51.76% in last year's local polls got just 1% of the votes on Wednesday.

New kids on the block Sizwe Ummah Nation (SUN) took the second spot with 23%.

The ANC dipped from 27% to 16%, while the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) got only 3%.

Abantu Batho Congress (ABC) and African Transformation Movement (ATM) got 2% of the votes.

The victory will now increase the IFP council seats from five to six of the total 21 council seats.

ANC, which has ten seats, will still govern the uMuziwabantu Municipality with the help of ABC and Al Jama-Ah, who both have one council seat each.

The EFF, which struck a working relationship with the ANC in KZN and Gauteng last month, has two seats.

The Democratic Alliance has one seat.

The IFP has been regaining lost ground and making inroads in areas that were previously the strongholds of other parties including its arch-rival, the ANC.

Last month, the IFP snatched Ward 12 Madlankala in the city of uMhlathuze during a fiercely contested by-election.

The ward had been governed by the ANC since 1994.

The IFP's winning streak has reinforced its warning that the ANC would fail to get an outright victory in the province in the upcoming 2024 national general elections.

Meanwhile, the DA clung to Ward 5 in Edgemead Bothasig in Cape Town and Ward 5 Lamberts Bay in Cederberg in the by-elections on Wednesday.

Pictured above: IFP supporters in a celebratory mood after winning a by-election

Picture source: IFP

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