The MK Party’s good run in Mpumalanga can be attributed to support from voters in the regions bordering KwaZulu-Natal.
According to early voter numbers coming from the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC), the MK party looks certain to supplant the EFF and become the official opposition in the legislature as the second-biggest party in the province.
With just over 56% of the votes counted in Mpumalanga on Friday morning before the IEC results dashboard crashed, the MK Party had gained 17.6 % of the vote.
The ANC leads with 48.8% of the vote, which shows it has been slow in showing that it will win the province outright.
The DA (13.65%) comes in third place, and the EFF (13.4%) comes in fourth.
Mpumalanga MK Party spokesperson, Aubrey Mtsweni, said that the party’s performance showed that South Africans had been waiting for change.
Support from industrial areas
Mtsweni said that the less-than-a-year-old party had been strong in the province’s industrial areas in the Gert Sibande and Nkangala regions.
This is where the ANC showed a loss of support in the 2021 local government elections.
“Communities surrounding the industrial areas of Emalahleni and Secunda are not benefiting from services and economic opportunities from the mines, for example,” Mtsweni said.
“Emalahleni on its own contributes 36% to the [provincial] GDP [gross domestic product], but this does not reflect on people’s lives.
“Secunda [where Sasol is situated] contributes 10% to the GDP. Local people are not getting a share of business opportunities; they do not get a chance of owning mines and getting jobs. We will ensure that people get an opportunity.”
Distracted by court cases
Mtsweni, however, lamented the fact that litigation had impeded the MK Party’s campaign.
“If we had machinery and were not disturbed by the court cases, we would have done even better. We were never able to go to wards and branches where voters were.”
The MK Party’s first rally after the formation of the organisation took place in Mkhondo, Piet Retief.
It was a wise move because the ANC had become divided, alienating the town’s former mayor, Vusi Motha, and former provincial treasurer and cabinet member, Andries Gamede.
The EFF thought it had made inroads in Mkhondo when Motha and other mutinous councillors, who made sure the ANC did not have its mayor after the local government elections, joined the red berets.
Defecting to the MK Party
However, Motha and the councillors defected to the MK Party.
Mtsweni could not speculate how many voters the MK Party would eventually garner in the province.
“We have not made any projections, but we are very grateful that Mpumalanga people put so much trust in a new party of five months,” he said.
He said that the party has not even thought about a coalition should the ANC fail to reach 50% of the votes.
“What we know is that we want to change the government of the ANC.”
