As Wednesday's general elections approach, KwaZulu-Natal is in a state of apprehension and excitement. The police are preparing for possible protests, but no major incidents were reported on the first day of special voting on Monday.
Opinion polls suggest that KwaZulu-Natal, with 5.7 million registered voters, will be closely contested in Wednesday's general elections and is likely to emerge with a coalition provincial administration as no party will win the province with an absolute majority.
The province has a history of political violence and saw widespread destruction in the 2021 unrest that was sparked by former president Jacob Zuma's incarceration. The elections have heightened tensions in the province, with the authorities on high alert for possible protests.
About a week before the elections, the All Truck Drivers Forum and Allied South Africa (ATDF-ASA), an organisation that claims to be fighting for the rights of South African truck drivers, threatened a shutdown of all the major roads and freeways in KZN to protest against the hiring of foreign truck drivers. The shutdown was called off at the eleventh hour.
On Friday, 24 May, a group of uMkhonto Wesizwe (MK) party supporters tried to block the N3 highway in protest against the Constitutional Court judgment which ruled that Zuma, the leader of the MK party, was not eligible for any position in the National Assembly due to his conviction and sentence of 15 months' imprisonment...
