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The ANC’s top brass are again campaigning in Nquthu in northern KwaZulu-Natal, as the governing party goes on a last big push to swing voters to back it in the by-election called for May 24.
Treasurer-general Zweli Mkhize and national chairperson Baleka Mbete braved the icy conditions caused by a cold snap this morning, to go door to door with ANC volunteer teams in Ward 15 and Ward 16 of the Nquthu Local Municipality.
The re-run of the August local government election was ordered after the hung council failed to elect a mayor, deputy mayor and speaker - after six attempts.
The council was split between the ANC/NFP coalition and their IFP/DA/EFF rivals, with internal squabbling in the EFF resulting in a series of court applications which paralysed the council.
Mbete today called on volunteers to use their powers of persuasion on residents of Nquthu, saying they had to behave in a way that encouraged voters to support the national governing party.
She and Mkhize, who were accompanied by the ANC provincial leadership, were joined on Friday by ANC secretary general Gwede Mantashe, while ANC president Jacob Zuma will close the campaign with an address to a mass rally in the town next Sunday.
ANC provincial secretary Super Zuma told City Press this morning he was confident the ANC’s strategy of swamping Nquthu with its activists and leadership ahead of the poll, was paying off.
“The campaign is maturing on a daily basis in the manner in which we are mobilising. The reception that we are getting from the people of Nquthu is amazing.
"We are more than confident that this time around, we are going to get the majority that we desire,’’ Zuma said.
The ANC he said, is targeting 11 wards rather than the seven it took in August and is working to take back two it had lost to the opposition. It is also focusing on the three wards it lost by small margins.
“We are gunning for those to win them back,’’ he explained.
“We are targeting a minimum of 11 wards, but our assessment of the campaign thus far is that we may do even better than we have aimed for.’’
Zuma said the ANC is contesting the poll alone and not in a coalition with the NFP.
“We have just run our campaign as normal, as the ANC. Our first priority is to win this municipality without any coalition, but if things do not go in the manner we want them to go in, then indeed we will engage with the NFP.
"To us in our assessment, we will win this municipality outright’’, Zuma said.
