South African local elections: MK below 2% in eThekwini
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Businessday
A poll puts Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe party just below the 2% threshold presented as necessary to take eThekwini alone, while the ANC loses ground. Conducted among about 1,000 people per metropolitan municipality, the survey raises methodological concerns, according to BusinessDay.
An eNCA-MarkData poll puts the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party, the formation of former South African president Jacob Zuma, just below 2% of voting intentions in the eThekwini metropolitan municipality ahead of the local elections on 4 November, BusinessDay reports. This level contrasts with the party’s dominant performance in KwaZulu-Natal province in the 2024 general elections.
The survey questioned just over 1,000 people in each of the eThekwini and Tshwane metropolitan municipalities, with a margin of error of more than 3%, according to election analyst Wayne Sussman, quoted by BusinessDay. Interviews were conducted only in person in eThekwini, while Tshwane was surveyed through in-person and telephone interviews.
The poll attributes 74.6% of responsibility for failures in public services in eThekwini to the ANC, compared with 62.5% in Tshwane. In the administrative capital, 27.2% of respondents described the situation in the metropolitan municipality as “extremely” concerning. The government must also provide an additional 21.8 billion rand to local authorities for basic services, according to Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana’s medium-term budget policy statement.
The estimate comes after the publication of a poll presenting the MK party as capable of taking eThekwini. This prospect was raised on 14 October in the article on the MK party’s takeover of eThekwini, three weeks before the 4 November municipal election.
