By
KATUMBA GERALD
Formed in early 2023, the uMkhonto weSizwe [Spear of the Nation] commonly known as MK Project/ party came into prominence in December when Zuma announced he would back them instead of the ANC the party through which he twice became president.
The MK’s rapid rise since its birth last year could, in particular, damage the ANC in Kwazulu Natal, South Africa’s second most populous province, where polls suggest the Zuma-backed party could emerge as the single biggest winner in the coming elction.
South Africans go to the polls on May 29 in a crucial election for the ANC, which has been in power since the country’s first post-apartheid elections 30 years ago.
Considered the party that liberated South Africa from apartheid, the ANC has recently been shedding support, with polls predicting it could fall below 50 percent vote share for the first time since its establishment.
According to the political situation currently in South Africa if ANC fails to win a majority, opposition parties could pool together to dethrone the ANC.
The MK project is now tapping into Zuma’s popularity to win more supporters, while also benefitting from resentments among an electorate fed-up with government corruption, high levels of violent crime, electricity blackouts known locally as load-shedding, growing scarcity of piped water, unemployment and poverty under 30 years of ANC rule.
Zuma is a big political figure with a huge following among the Zulu community, South Africa’s largest ethnic group to which he belongs.
His popularity persists even though his road to political power has been paved with countless controversies ranging from Corruption, Embezzlement, Bribery and abuse of office.
He was fired from his position as the country’s deputy president in 2005 after his close associate was found guilty of corruption for, among other things, paying bribes to Zuma.
In the same year he was indited on a charge of rape, but was later acquitted. Also in 2005, he was indicted on charges of fraud, corruption and money laundering but still holding a bigger following mostly from the black community.
African National Congress is facing a bigger challenge in genning for support in this year’s elections, Jacob Zuma’s exit from the party and his intervention in de-campaigning it has already started costing the party’s support, since it’s establishment ANC has been on a frontline in every election.
While in power, he was again implicated by corruption allegations and accusations related to the plundering of state funds. And after he was forced out in 2018, he refused to participate in a commission of inquiry into corruption, even after summons were served.
He was sentenced to 15 months in jail and when police fetched him from his home in July 2021, some parts of South Africa erupted into a week-long frenzy of violence and looting, resulting in the deaths of more than 350 people and a huge loss to the economy.
But he is back in the political limelight with the MK, despite South Africa’s electoral commission announcing last month that he was not eligible to stand for elections due to the contempt of court conviction a ruling the MK has since appealed.
Despite his many critics, those who support Zuma are often happy to follow the former president’s lead, some voters who were committed to the ANC are now throwing their weight behind the MK.
Although the MK draws most of its support from the ANC voter base, its presence is being felt by other political parties such as the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), a traditionalist Zulu nationalist party and key opposition to the ANC in KZN, and the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which was formed by a Julius Malema, a popular former ANC youth leader.
Just over 27 million South Africans have registered to vote in the upcoming polls. Gauteng, the country’s most populous province with more than seven million registered voters, and KwaZulu-Natal, with 5.7 million voters, are the main battlegrounds.
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