ANC Youth League (ANCYL) president Collen Malatji claimed that KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) has a history, even post 1994 of people voting according to tribal lines, hence the voters' pattern shift.
He said the shifting patterns could be seen between former president Jacob Zuma and current president, Cyril Ramaphosa.
“If you check the voting pattern in KZN under the tribalism of Nkandla [Zuma] you saw the numbers increasing in votes and when Ramaphosa came in, there was a decline because of how they have been cultured,” he said.
Malatji said this was the only challenging part about winning over KZN but with measures put in place, he was confident that ANC would retain control in the province.
“Look, I believe that we will win KZN, we have reinforced the province as ANC with veterans from that area,” he said.
Malatji addressed the media at the ANC’s headquarters, Luthuli House in Johannesburg on Thursday.
KZN has become a battlefield for political parties ahead of the elections with Zuma, now leading the Umkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party, posing a threat to the ANC’s dominance in the region.
The 2024 national and provincial elections will be held on May 29.
Malatji said through political and massive education, the ANC leadership must go to the ground and educate people that “we are building a nation and not a tribal group.”
“We are building, we are building one nation of South Africa which unites citizens, that is a plan we are busy with,” he said.
Malatji admitted that they needed to work hard and together to win KZN, stating that they lost municipalities which they needed to recover.
He blamed some of the deployees in KZN for their failures to render services for the people.
“Some of our deployees there were sleeping, they were not servicing our people and if you don’t service them, they look for an alternative.
“That’s why as the youth league we have set up a system of holding the deployees of the movement accountable,” he said.
Malatji said the times when people would move around and do nothing were over.
“I am sure that when our people see us working, they will know and come back to vote for the ANC,” he said.
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