Durban — For the IFP to topple the ANC from the political throne in KwaZulu-Natal, party veteran Narendh Singh admitted that the so-called Indian vote will be a key factor.
Singh, who has been an IFP member for more than three decades, told the Daily News that the IFP would reclaim KZN from its main rival, the ANC’s 20-year tight grip held since 2004.
But for this to happen, he conceded that the IFP would have to net a big chunk of the more than 5 million registered voters in KZN – including the contested Indian vote.
“We are gunning for an outright victory and nothing else. We have invested a lot in our campaign and we hope that our hard work will pay off in two weeks’ time when we go to the polls.
“We are also mindful of the fact that the Indian vote will be key in us reclaiming the province from the hands of the ANC,” he said.
The party’s campaign had been well received in predominantly Indian neighbourhoods like Chatsworth and Phoenix, in the south and north of Durban respectively, he said.
“We have cemented our support in Indian and Coloured neighbourhoods. We are confident we’ll get a lot of votes coming from those areas.”
The IFP mustered just 580 000 votes in the 2019 national elections in KZN, behind the ANC’s more than 1.9 million votes. The DA, its partner in the Multi-Party Charter, got 500 000 votes, thus becoming the third largest in the province.
Singh said if the IFP fell short of an outright majority (50%+1), he was optimistic that the Multi-Party Charter gang would be able to oust the ANC.
The party’s “clean” image would pay off in spades at the elections, said Singh, who is the party’s national chairperson of the elections committee.
“We have maintained a clean image as the IFP and have proved to be a reliable government where we govern in places like uMhlathuze and the King Cetshwayo District. We hope this will encourage people to vote for us,” said Singh.
Citing his party’s high-spirited campaign, Singh was confident of victory.
“As you have seen, we have been everywhere in the country, and our message has been well received in many quarters, including in places we have never had a big footprint like the North West and Cape Town.”
For the province, the IFP had a grand idea: to return it to its former glory by ridding it of the rampant corruption in government, grinding poverty and creating job opportunities.
Singh said the ANC has spectacularly failed to run the province and by extension, the country.
“Everything is just crumbling. This is an indictment of the ANC-led government. We now appeal to the millions of registered voters to vote for the IFP in their numbers so that we are able to restore our country to its former glory.”
Like party president Velenkosini Hlabisa, Singh said the IFP would snatch the province from the ANC to honour the late founding president of the IFP, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who died last year.
“His spirit will be our guiding light as we go to the elections for the first time since his passing. We will win KZN for him,” said Singh.
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