The MK Party has entrusted Zanele Makhanya with her collective regional leadership to coordinate elections and win eThekwini Municipality.
Image: Supplied
As part of the eThekwini Municipality takeover plan, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) regional leadership has embarked on a programme to elect ward and zone election teams.
Under normal political conditions, the task of driving election campaigns falls under parties’ existing regional leadership structures, particularly the secretariat; however, the MKP has opted to appoint election teams specifically to drive coordinated election campaigns.
To avoid parallel leadership and to ensure that the election coordinating teams work without interference from the existing leadership, the party dissolved all old structures to pave the way for the election team.
In an exclusive interview with the party’s regional elections coordinator, Zanele Makhanya, on Thursday, she said the party aims to win a two-thirds majority in the upcoming local government elections and has devised a unique strategy that differs from other parties.
“There is no party that has done what we have done. The MKP is different from other parties, so we had to differ in our approach to elections, which is why we dissolved our existing structures that were put in place when the party was founded in 2023.
“With our well-oiled plan, we can safely say we are ready to win eThekwini Municipality with an overwhelming majority,” said Makhanya.
ANC Women's League held an election prayer in eThekwini on Thursday.
Image: Willem Phungula
Another strategy the party is banking on is a “secret infiltration” of the ANC by discouraging ANC members who work in the municipality from publicly associating themselves with the MKP.
Makhanya said, besides scores of people who always attend party gatherings, many are still in the ANC because of the party’s advice to remain with the party, but will vote for the MKP, then leave the ANC after elections.
“There are many ANC comrades who wanted to leave and join us, but we advised them that, in order not to risk losing their jobs, they must not publicly associate themselves with us until after the elections. We have many comrades within the ANC who will vote for us. We advised them to remain there after those who publicly endorsed us were victimised, and some lost their jobs,” said Makhanya.
With 112 wards and 16 zones in eThekwini, MKP is expected to go toe to toe with the ANC over the control of the now R74 billion budget metro.
However, speaking at an ANC Women’s League prayer session on Thursday, the party's regional convener, Thabani Nyawose, vowed not to hand over the city to the MKP on a silver platter. Outlining his task team priorities, Nyawose said topping the list is to keep all 74 wards the ANC won in 2021.
“We will fight tooth and nail to keep all our 74 wards here in eThekwini. That is our first and important task in order to keep the ANC in power. The other two tasks are to revive party structures, including women's, youth, and veterans leagues, and take the region to the conference,” said Nyawose.
With 224 seats available in eThekwini, a party that needs to govern the city alone must strive to get 113 seats.
willem.phungula@inl.co.za