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<\/p>\nRabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za<\/p>\n
22 September 2026<\/p>\n
3-minute read<\/p>\n
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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.<\/p>\n
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 \u201cdoing much worse\u201d in KZN while the MK Party was gaining popularity. According to Mari, it was \u201ca deliberate strategy\u201d to take over voter loyalty from the two main parties by \u201chollowing out\u201d their structures.<\/p>\n
She describes MK as coming onto the KZN scene like \u201ca black swan\u201d who did surprising well in the previous election; inferring that the party will do even better in this local government elections.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll politics is local,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
While the provincial government may seem \u201cfar away\u201d to many and national government is \u201ceven further away,\u201d 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 \u201cdeep distrust\u201d 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.<\/p>\n
Younger voters remain politically disengaged and play a smaller role than they\u2019re supposed to. Election statistics show 18-19yo\u2019s representing a mere 1% of the country numbering 700 thousand while 20-29yo\u2019s constitute approximately 4.5 million of registered voters. So, while about half of the youth are registered to vote, Mari states that \u201cthe big thing now is to get them to the polls to go and vote\u201d. 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.<\/p>\n
Polling does not necessarily predict election results. Mari advises not to \u201ctake the results at face value,\u201d 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.<\/p>\n