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An icy wind stirs up a massive red dust cloud as it cuts across the hillside at Nkonjeni, the village above Ulundi where Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) president Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s KwaPhindangene homestead is located.
The neighbourhood’s IFP Ward 9 candidate, Lucky Khumalo, only seems to notice the weather when his white IFP cap is blown off his head and swept away.
“Don’t worry, people here love the IFP. Somebody will wear it,” he quips while conducting an impromptu tour of the ward, home to a little more than 8 000 people, half of whom are registered voters.
Khumalo (39), who was born in this ward, where he also attended primary and high school before moving to Johannesburg in an unsuccessful bid to play professional football (he says there was too much politics in the game for him), is not the IFP’s sitting councillor.
Mandla Kubheka, who won the ward for the party with 64% of votes in 2011, was dropped by the branch in Khumalo’s favour. Kubheka will stand as an independent, as will Dumisane Mbatha of the National Freedom Party (NFP).
The ANC is fielding local school principal S’khumbuzo Khuzwayo (43), while the Economic Freedom Fighters will be represented by Slindile Zwane, the only female candidate.
Khumalo, a provincial transport department employee and father of two, says the ward that has backed the IFP in every election is of utmost importance to his party.
“It is where our president lives. This ward has always supported the IFP and it always will,” he says. “We know the ANC would love to take over this ward. They are doing everything they can to win it, but they won’t. The IFP has done a lot for the people here. They know it.”
In 2014, the IFP’s support in the ward slipped to 63% in the provincial poll and 61% in the national poll, but Khumalo believes the NFP’s failure to register for the elections will increase the numbers.
“We are busy helping people, fixing roads, giving out food parcels. We assist with burials for those who can’t afford it and help find people jobs,” he says, while spreading word that he will be distributing food parcels he organised from sponsors.
These will be welcome: only 16% of residents are employed and the average household income is R29 000 a year.
Khuzwayo, the first resident of the ward to join the ANC and the party’s Ward 9 branch chairperson, believes he and his team have done enough to improve the 11% it took in 2011. They did a little better in 2014, with 21% of provincial votes cast and 14% of national votes.
“This is the first time we have been able to contest every ward here,” he says. “This ward is very significant for the ANC because of its history. We are working very hard here and we believe we will do a lot better and even have the potential to win.”
Khuzwayo believes the independent candidates will help by splitting the IFP/NFP vote.
But if the distribution of posters and residents wearing party regalia is anything to go by, the IFP is well ahead.
