ULUNDI - Shortly after voting at Mahlabathini in Ulundi on Monday, the founder of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and president emeritus, Inkosi Mangosuthu Buthelezi said his party had done all it could to woo voters to back them at the polls.
Buthelezi said he was not into soothsaying and could not tell how the vote would go, but was hopeful of better results as his party did well in the last local government elections in 2016.
Ulundi, the traditional capital of the Zulu kingdom, is a stronghold of the IFP. In 2011, when the splinter National Freedom Party (NFP) wrested away, through a coalition with the ANC, almost all IFP municipalities in the province, the IFP was able to comfortably defend the local municipality.
The municipality is also key to the IFP as most votes from it give it an upper hand by sending more councillors to the Zululand district municipality, which also has its headquarters in the same northern KwaZulu-Natal town.
Video: Sihle Mavuso/IOL Politics
Buthelezi’s arrival at the voting station caused a frenzy among the throngs of IFP supporters, who had to be stopped at the gates by police and Electoral Commission of South Africa officials.
After voting he said he saw no reason for people not to vote during the ongoing local government elections. This comes as some in the country are calling for a vote boycott, saying the process is not worth it.
But he would not be drawn into commenting on his party’ prospects as the country waits for voting to close at 9pm and vote counting to commence.
“I don’t see any reason for people not to vote because in the last local government elections we did very well and I think that, from my point of view, Mr (Velenkosini) Hlabisa (the reigning president of the IFP) and all the other leaders, including myself, we have done everything that should have been done as far as campaigning is concerned.
“So now, we leave that to the voters, but I am not a leader who indulges in prophecies saying we will do well and so on. I don’t know, I wish I knew, I would tell you (how will the IFP fare),” Buthelezi said.
Buthelezi lambasted parties for making empty promises to people during their campaigns, saying people should not be fooled. He said the reason the IFP used the “Trust Us” slogan was because it once ran a clean government and delivered, hence theirs was not a campaign based on empty promises.
sihle.mavuso@inl.co.za
Political Bureau