The African National Congress was swept from control in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa’s second-most populous province, where voters emphatically rejected it for the party of former President Jacob Zuma.
Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party, or MKP,, according to Bloomberg won 45.4% of the ballot in the province — home to sub-Saharan Africa’s biggest port — with tallies from all 4,974 voting districts counted, according to the electoral commission.
The ANC saw its support plunge to 17% from 54.2% in 2019, the IEC said, lagging behind the Inkatha Freedom Party on 18.1%.
The result is a dramatic comeback in the homeland of the charismatic 82-year-old, who led South Africa for almost nine scandal-ridden years before the ruling party forced him from office.
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MKP’s surge stunned the ruling ANC, which dismissed his electoral threat before the May 29 vote as a “nuisance,” but may now have to entertain including his party in a coalition to stay in power.
The ANC’s share of the national ballot has fallen below 50% for the first time since Nelson Mandela led it to power in 1994.
