ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe led the party's election campaign in Richards Bay.Photo credit: Delwyn Verasamy
ANC national chairman Gwede Mantashe was campaigning in Richards Bay on Thursday when a door was slammed in his face.
One person told Ms Mantashe that her family belonged to Jacob Zuma's political party uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) and that they closed the door when Mantashe approached them.
The ANC chairman had been campaigning in northern KwaZulu-Natal since Tuesday before traveling to Richards Bay to campaign.
The ANC has been under pressure to expand its grip in KwaZulu-Natal since Mr Zuma announced in December that he would support the MK party.
Opinion polls have since shown that the MK party will hold a significant portion of the ANC's voters in the province. The party's vote share in the 2019 election was 55.47%, down from 65.31% in the 2014 KwaZulu-Natal election. Mr Zuma was credited with the ANC's achievements in 2014.
An Ipsos poll predicts the ANC will win 40% of the national vote. This led to the party's decision to send all of its top leaders on the National Executive Committee to KwaZulu-Natal.
Former ANC president Thabo Mbeki and other prominent party veterans are also expected to appear in the province this weekend.
Mr Mantashe was optimistic his party would maintain a majority but received mixed reactions in KwaZulu-Natal this week.
Mr Mantashe, who is known for working alone, continued this tradition this week by campaigning with only ANC volunteers and a police van as part of his security.
During a walk in Richards Bay, he confronted undecided voters. Ipsos predicts that his 35% of voters are undecided.
Unemployed Mpumelele Ndlela said she was still thinking about why she should vote for the ANC again.
“It's been eight years since I started this job and I'm disappointed. I'm going to vote, but I'm not going to promise that the secret ballot will go to the ANC. I've always voted for the ANC, but I haven't yet. “We are considering it and we are not going to force a vote on it,” she said.
Another resident, Sibonelo Ngubane, told Mantashe he wanted money, a wife and a bid before agreeing to vote for the ANC, adding that he wanted to live like a “fat cat”.
“I can promise you I'll vote for you, but you'll never see me. Money has to come first,” he said. “I'd like to get some bids, too, because I'll be doing everything from mowing the grass to supplying supplies.I'd also like volunteers to give birth to boys.''
Other residents welcomed Mantashe and vowed to still vote in favor of him despite the difficulties he faced under the ANC.
One resident said he would vote for the ANC because he knows what it has done over the past 30 years. She is reluctant to vote for an opposition party that does not have a track record in government, she said.
“They are [opposition parties] Come to us and lie. We know they won't do anything for us. We vote for the ANC because we know what it will give us. ”
Mr Mantashe said the ANC had made mistakes but people's lives had changed since 1994.
“Children receive grants, go to school for free, are fed at school and go to university for free,” he said.
“We admit that we made mistakes. Over the past 30 years, we have not only taught but also learned and accumulated knowledge and experience. We want to take advantage of it, so we I'm telling you to vote for the ANC.”
