The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal has cited the DA’s “Moonshot Pact” as the reason for its electoral decline in recent by-elections.

Between February 2022 and April 2023, the IFP won seven wards and the DA one from the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal. The governing party attributes this to voters being bused in and the two parties working together.

#ANCNWCinKZN #ANCAtWork pic.twitter.com/J7H9aRd3xu

— African National Congress (@MYANC) May 14, 2023

This is according to KwaZulu-Natal provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo’s report which he shared with the party’s National Working Committee (NWC) on Sunday at Coastlands Hotel in the heart of Durban.

The ANC NWC had been in meetings since Saturday with the provincial leadership discussing state structures and government in KwaZulu-Natal.

“The united alliance of the DA and IFP KwaZulu-Natal Moonshot Pact seems to be paying very well for both parties. For example, in ward99 eThekwini, ward4 Mtubatuba and ward28 Msunduzi the ANC increased its supports [sic] it received from 2021 Local Government Elections [sic],” said the report. 

“It still lost the wards to the IFP because it gained votes from DA and DA effectively campaign [sic] for the IFP and mobilize its voters to go and vote for the IFP hence even though the ANC increased support in ward99 eThekwini and ward4 Mtubatuba it loses these two wards based on the DA and IFP moonshot coalition [sic],” the report reads.

The DA’s proposal involves itself and smaller parties coming together to prevent the ANC and EFF from forming a coalition at the national level in 2024. The pact is based on the assumption that the ANC will get less than 50% of the votes.

It has been rejected by the UDM and ACDP, which believe the DA has a “Big Brother mentality” in how it has approached other parties.

However, DA insiders recently confirmed to Daily Maverick that meetings discussing the pact have been happening behind closed doors.

THIRD DAY OF ANC NATIONAL WORKING COMMITTEE KWAZULU-NATAL VISIT TO INCLUDE BY-ELECTION CAMPAIGN AND MEETING WITH KZN PROVINCIAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE pic.twitter.com/cwtYSncwV3

— African National Congress (@MYANC) May 14, 2023

The ANC’s provincial structure further sets out the party’s decline in the province. It went from 2.5 million voters in the 2014 elections to 1.9 million in 2019.

“The increase and decline in the ANC support is largely due to voter turnout. The ANC supporters in KwaZulu-Natal who were ordinarily loyal to the party don’t go out and vote. The province has seen a shift to the EFF and IFP. Most of the voters where ANC is losing power are in the former IFP voting districts. The ANC remains strong and maintains power in its strongholds. The eThekwini region showed the highest drop in voter turnout and ANC support and subsequently contributed the largest to the drop in 2019,” the report said.  

“The DA, Freedom Front Plus, and the EFF showed positive growth in the province when comparing two General Elections, 2014 and 2019. On the Local Government Elections, the IFP showed a spike turn [sic] from negative growth to a high positive,” the report continued.

Read more in Daily Maverick: NFP makes a comeback in KZN to irk slumping ANC while IFP shows mixed performance 

Meanwhile, national officials were on the campaign trail this past weekend as the ANC will be contesting a by-election in eThekwini’s Ward 73.

The ward is in Chatsworth, a predominantly Indian area, which was visited by the party’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, on Sunday. The ward was initially won by the DA in 2021, but ward councillor Ronnie Pillay recently resigned. Pillay is among 200 DA members who have left the official opposition to join the ANC.

By-elections are also scheduled for Ward 15 in Mandeni Local Municipality in northern KwaZulu-Natal and Ward 12 in Umzimkhulu Local Municipality. Both councillors died earlier this year. DM