With support for the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal in decline, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and Democratic Alliance (DA) have forged ties in a bid to dislodge the ruling party from power in the 2024 provincial elections.
The ANC in the province received 54% of the vote in the 2019 elections, but its support dropped to below 50% in last year’s municipal elections.
The DA and IFP are working together in hung municipalities such as uMhlathuze and Abaqulusi local municipalities.
DA provincial chairperson Dean Macpherson said the two parties held bilateral talks in late October to bolster their relationship to pursue common interests, the most pressing of which is to remove the ANC from power in the province.
DA to assist IFP in eThekwini’s ward 99 by-election
As part of the agreement, the DA will assist the IFP in the upcoming by-election in eThekwini municipality’s ward 99.
Located in the south of Durban, Ward 99, which includes the Umkomaas area, became vacant after the murder of ANC eThekwini ward councillor Mnqobi Molefe in September.
Macpherson said enabling the IFP to take on the ANC in ward 99 would be an effective way to ensure that the ANC was defeated. “This makes strategic sense, with the IFP being a bigger party in the ward.”
He added: “It is a view shared by the IFP that where the DA has a greater chance of victory, they too would step back to assist in removing the ANC.
Macpherson said the agreement would have consequences in eThekwini, “which is governed by a fragile ANC-led coalition”. – The Witness
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