ANC on a quest to make U-turn in KZN

The ANC’s KwaZulu-Natal spokesperson Mafika Mndebele says the party is on a quest to turn things around after its dismal performance at the May 29 general election.

On Monday, the party’s national chairperson Gwede Mantashe spoke out about the state of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, saying the party had been destroyed and needs to be rebuilt from scratch.

Mantashe’s comments came after a meeting of the party’s National Working Committee which analysed the party’s electoral performance, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

Mantashe said the objective would be to rebuild and not disband the structures in these provinces.

“Sometimes people think that to rebuild you must disband. It is not the best option, we have tried that many times. It is so difficult to build from disbandment but if you build from the rubble, that is where you build faster.

It must be rebuilt, that was where we were hurt by (Jacob) Zuma.”

Mndebele said the party is trying to regain lost ground ahead of the 2026 local government elections.

“We have been doing a lot of ground work over the past two months and we are seeing the fruits of that because people who went to MK Party are coming back. We understand that the process will not happen overnight and that as the ANC leadership in the province there is still a lot of work to be done, but we are working very hard to turn things around,” Mndebele said.

Thabani Khumalo, an independent political analyst based in Durban, said it is going to take a lot of work to revive the ANC in the province. He said ANC leaders in the province were out of touch with reality and that it had cost them votes in May.

“The chances of it being a big party in the province (after the 2026 elections) are very slim. If you look at the dynamics, the ANC is not in control of urban areas and it is definitely not in control of rural areas, where the MKP and IFP are in control.

“Even the quality of the ANC in KZN has deteriorated. The general feeling ... is that the ANC is no longer the party it once was,” he said.

Political analyst from the University of KwaZulu-Natal Zakhele Ndlovu said he does not see the ANC in KZN recovering soon.

“For me there has not been anything that suggests they are turning things around, if anything it could lose more support. People have lost confidence in the ANC especially here in KZN, it would take a massive effort to turn things around,” said Ndlovu.

The Mercury