Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za

22 September 2026

3-minute read

With KZN being a politically distinctive province, local government elections this November will test whether traditional party loyalists still carry the same weight in the region.

Looking back to Elections 2024, political analyst at IPSOS South Africa, Mari Harris points out that traditional parties like the ANC and the EFF were already “doing much worse” in KZN while the MK Party was gaining popularity. According to Mari, it was “a deliberate strategy” to take over voter loyalty from the two main parties by “hollowing out” their structures.

She describes MK as coming onto the KZN scene like “a black swan” who did surprising well in the previous election; inferring that the party will do even better in this local government elections.

“All politics is local,” says Mari. Voters are driven to change their political allegiances because of the frustration and the deep disappointment in terms of service delivery in local municipalities, and they are investing their hopes in MK bringing back some type of order. Furthermore, the MK leadership has a strong Zulu identity giving it strong pull among the people of KZN.

While the provincial government may seem “far away” to many and national government is “even further away,” local government matters are extremely important to the people because it is the level of government that is visible to them and influences their day to day living. Voters have a “deep distrust” for political parties who make promises they do not fulfil, cannot effect real change, only look after their own interests and not that of the voters, and only ever appear at election times and never between elections.

Younger voters remain politically disengaged and play a smaller role than they’re supposed to. Election statistics show 18-19yo’s representing a mere 1% of the country numbering 700 thousand while 20-29yo’s constitute approximately 4.5 million of registered voters. So, while about half of the youth are registered to vote, Mari states that “the big thing now is to get them to the polls to go and vote”. The youth are under-represented in the political process of SA, yet they have a massive influence on who is put into power. Their unique challenges and real issues can only be addressed if they play a part and vote for their future; they must be inspired to turn out to vote.

Polling does not necessarily predict election results. Mari advises not to “take the results at face value,” but rather to consider when the survey was done, how it was done, who was interviewed, and how the questions were asked before interpreting polling figures.

Listen to the full interview with Ml Habib Bobat and Mari Harris here.