Cape Town — African National Congress (ANC) spokesperson, Gwede Mantashe, said he was surprised to see the gains the uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) party made in Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN).
After 20% of voter were tallied, the MK emerged as the leaders in KZN with 43% of the votes, edging out provincial rivals the ANC, and the IFP. Mantashe praised the MK for there strong showing in KZN but said the party would not do as well in other provinces, SABC News reported.
“They have done well in KZN, we must say they are doing well in KZN. They have surprised me a little bit there, but they are not going to do that in other provinces. They won’t do that in the Eastern Cape. I’m watching Gauteng,” Mantashe said.
“Mpumalanga, they won’t do well in Mpumalanga. We are going to do well. We are going to do well in Mpumalanga. I can tell you now, we’re going to do well in Mpumalanga, we’re going to do well in Limpopo, we’re going to do well in the Eastern Cape, we’re going to do well in the Free State and we are doing relatively well in the North West.” he added.
[WATCH] ANC chairperson Gwede Mantashe tells journalists that the party will discuss coalitions after the results, he also says former president Jacob Zuma is not a member of the ANC. pic.twitter.com/EgsfpwVrnR
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He said MK’s support in KZN was down to Zuma’s recognition in the province, labelling the support as ‘Zulu tribalism,’, The Citizen reported.
“If the impact in KZN reflects something different, it reflects Zulu tribalism. I don’t think we should lock ourselves into Zulu tribalism. It is a backward form of politics. It has its time frame and disappears,” he said.
Mantashe dismissed the idea that the ANC would enter a coalition with the EFF and the MK party should they fail to win an outright majority at the elections.
“I do not know. I am not talking about coalitions now. The outcome we want is an outright majority. That is what we want,” he said.
While the ANC ruled out a coalition, the EFF had already pronounced a working relationship with the MK party to get a two-thirds majority.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
