IFP president, Velenkosini Hlabisa, whose party is currently on a winning streak in KwaZulu-Natal, has vowed to use next year’s general elections to end the ANC’s dominance in the province. To do this they plan victory in an upcoming by-election on Wednesday in an area of KZN where they only won one ward in the 2021 municipal elections.

Addressing throngs of IFP supporters during the party’s by-elections rally in Sweetwaters, Pietermaritzburg, Hlabisa said the IFP was on a mission to ‘liberate the people of KZN from the corrupt ANC’.

“People of this province entrusted the ANC with the task of governing, but the ANC used the opportunity to impoverish the people of this province. As we speak, there is no service delivery in the province of KZN, the infrastructure is crumbling and the capital city of Msunduzi has turned into a wasteland, it’s filthy.”

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The IFP, which in the 2021 municipal elections dislodged the ANC from power in several municipalities across the province, particularly in northern KZN, will be contesting in the by-elections in Msunduzi ward 2 in Sweetwaters on Wednesday.

The by-election was called following the recent death of ANC ward councillor Phumulani Gabuza.

The by-election takes place on the back of a series of IFP victories over the ANC in by-elections across the province. Hlabisa told the IFP faithful that the party will use the Msunduzi by-elections as a launch pad of its campaign to dislodge the ANC from power in next year’s general elections.

“To us as the IFP, this is a make-or-break by-election — we can’t afford to lose. We will use this by-election to demystify the notion that the IFP is a rural political party. We will use ward 2 to demonstrate that support for the IFP is across the entire province and to send a clear signal that the ANC is a dying party waiting for the final blow in the 2024 general elections.”

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The IFP has fielded its former Msunduzi councillor, Sbusiso Ntuli, who will be contesting against ANC long-serving activist Nomthandazo Khumalo.

Ntuli, who in the 2021 municipal elections contested ward 2 as a candidate for Abantu Batho Congress (ABC), said he will use the by-elections to make amends with the IFP for deserting the party during the previous elections.

“This used to be an IFP ward, but the party lost it because of me, when I decided to leave the party. Now that I’m back, I will ensure that the ward goes back to where it belongs — the IFP.”

ANC Moses Mabhida regional secretary, Samora Ndlovu, described the IFP’s claims that it will win the Msunduzi by-elections as a ‘pipe dream’.

“The IFP doesn’t have any support in that ward. In fact, the candidate which they are fielding was rejected by the voters during the recent local government elections. As far as the ANC is concerned, nothing has changed, the community of ward 2 will once more reject that candidate like they did before. That’s an ANC ward and come Wednesday, we will return it.”

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The Msunduzi Municipality was one of the councils, including eThekwini, where the ANC failed to clinch an outright majority in the 2021 municipal elections.

On the other hand, Msunduzi Municipality is one of the KZN councils where the IFP performed dismally in the 2021 municipal elections, winning only a single ward.