Durban - The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has started campaigning for this year’s local government elections, with campaign activities happening every Friday.
This was as President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday announced that the local government elections would take place on October 27.
Provincial ANC spokesperson Nhlakanipho Ntombela said the governing party was ready for the elections.
“We have already begun the process of rejuvenating and reviving our structures in the province and we have various activities under certain themes that we are holding every Friday. We are activating our election structures, recruiting volunteers and looking at solutions to improve low voter turnout,” said Ntombela.
He added that people could expect to see new youthful faces and new blood as candidates in this year’s elections.
The Independent Electoral Commission on Thursday announced that the average voter turnout was 40.65% for all 14 wards that were contested during the by-elections on Wednesday.
“The ANC retained 10 seats and won two seats from the DA and the IFP respectively. The IFP and the DA each retained one seat. The average voter turnout was 40.65% which compares well with the average voter turnout for by-elections since the previous local government elections in 2016 which is 38.73%,” said chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo.
Mamabolo said this year’s elections would be among the most challenging the commission, political parties, candidates and all other stakeholders faced, given the unique challenges under Covid-19 conditions.
The IFP in KZN said the local government elections date announcement brought a sigh of relief to many political parties and independent candidates.
“It is our hope that with the final date now set for late October, government will ramp-up their efforts in vaccine distribution and the inoculation of the adult population. Ideally, we would want to have the majority of the country's adults vaccinated by the time elections begin across the country, to ensure herd immunity and to curb the further spread of Covid-19,” said IFP KZN leader, Velenkosini Hlabisa.
The DA in KZN also said they had already started campaigning.
“The current collapse of municipalities and infrastructure has reached unacceptable proportions. KZN Voters now have the opportunity to turn this around at the ballot box, both the ANC and the IFP have through their poor performance at local government indicated that they have neither the capacity nor the desire to deliver basic services that are both sustainable and affordable, particularly to the poorest of the poor in KZN,” said the DA’s Francois Rodgers.
Daily News