Ann Eveleth
KwaZulu-Natal’s local government polls were probably the most peaceful political event the historically stormy province has ever seen.
Here and there a dark cloud hovered over the province’s 3,5-million voters as political opponents waged a final stand to protect — or extend — their turf, and in some cases angry voters’ tempers burst over logistical problems. Serious hiccups were, however, limited to a small portion of the province’s 3 500 polling stations and — for a province marked by more than a decade of civil war — the most significant event was that the “storm” never came.
The only conflict-related physical violence reported at the time of going to press was described by local police as “a slight scuffle and a slap or two” exchanged during a confrontation between African National Congress and Inkatha Freedom Party supporters in Shakaville township outside Stanger. Police spokesperson Bala Naidoo reported that “only one death” was reported by the time the polls closed. Naidoo said he could not confirm whether the death in Empangeni was related to the election.
Network of Independent Monitors director Jenni Irish said while there were some incidents of violence, “on the whole the elections were much more peaceful than was initially expected”. Even the province’s most fiercely contested terrain, the Midlands Regional Council, was described by election officials as “quiet — the way we like it”.
For the first time the message of a mural which has adorned a cement fence along Pietermaritzburg’s Edendale Road since 1994 seemed out of place: “Our country is in pieces,” it proclaimed.
In rural Donnybrook and Bulwer, both sites of intense conflict between ANC and IFP supporters until two weeks ago, the pieces of a normal society seemed to be falling into place. “I’m voting because I want to be part of the community,” said 35-year- old Monica Memela, who married into Donnybrook’s ANC-dominated Junction township eight years ago.
“Our community needs water, electricity and roads, that’s what I am voting for.”
“I just want to elect somebody who will talk for us and help us to develop our area,” said Lucia Zuma (61), a Bulwer teacher who lamented the fact that her school’s 134 pupils still took their lessons in a “school made of mud”.
While an uncanny political unity among voters at a given polling station underlined the continued demarcation of much of the province into political “no-go” areas, an ANC election poster hanging outside an IFP-dominated polling station in Pietermaritzburg’s battle-scarred Imbali township bore witness to recent attempts to bridge the gap.
More importantly, the common interests of the two arch-rivals’ grassroots supporters have begun to peek out from under the hitherto deadly veil of political hostility.
Imbali’s IFP voters queued for hours outside a community hall next to the hostel they dominate to vote for exactly the same things as their opponents: “We’re voting for houses and street-cleaning and roads. We want someone to tell our problems to,” said Miriam Zondo.
“It’s really just a wish that something better could happen to us,” said Alice Zondi, a 42-year-old single mother of five who has lived in a makeshift shack since the December floods washed away her home.
The polls were certainly not without their problems. Zondi complained that while “so many people came to tell us we must vote for them, nobody told us what we are really voting for”. Lack of voter education, confusion over where to vote, voters’ roll errors, late starts and slow-moving polls were just some of the logistical hitches listed by voters and confirmed by the province’s local government MEC, Peter Miller.
While these snags saw angry voters confronting election officials at some polling stations, other voters waited with extreme patience. In Durban’s Umlazi township, a man playing a guitar entertained voters at strife-torn Glebelands hostel, where 24 hours earlier security forces had seized a huge arms cache.
Violence monitor Mary de Haas warned however that it was too early to predict the dawn of a new era for the strife-torn province.
The Shakaville confrontation underlined the fragile nature of the truce. So did a tense stand-off which developed at Table Mountain outside Pietermaritzburg, when IFP-supporting residents tried to prevent ANC refugees — who had fled the area amid fierce fighting in the late 1980s — from casting their ballots.
Before the counting even started, the ANC had announced plans to challenge the results of several polling stations in the Durban metro, in Shakaville, and in certain areas of two regional councils, amid claims of unfair voting processes.
IFP secretary general Ziba Jiyane dismissed the impending challenges as “usual ANC bleatings”, and said he was upbeat about the polls.
The widespread peace on election day — achieved barely a month after ANC and IFP provincial leaders announced their peace effort and before any joint rallies could be arranged — shows that much of the violence is organised. The leaders can end it just as quickly as they can start it, and this must intensify the pressure for them to negotiate a final ceasefire and erase the climate of fear.
In Donnybrook and Bulwer, ANC voters still glanced furtively around and lowered their heads before daring to whisper their party’s name, despite being surrounded by friends: “We are still afraid. Our enemy is still among us,” they said.