/ 3 June 1999

ANC EYES CRUCIAL PROVINCES

THE African National Congress is neck and neck with the Inkatha Freedom Party for control of KwaZulu Natal, while the ruling party looks set to wrest the Western Cape away from the New National Party. Early returns indicate that the ANC may poll the highest returns in the only two provinces it did not win in the last election. In the IFP stronghold of KwaZulu-Natal, the ANC (with 39,21%) is just behind the IFP (40,38%), according to unverified figures released by the IEC at 11,32am. The next closest is the Democratic Party with 9,11%. In the Western Cape, the ANC is four percentage points ahead of the Nats, in the only province in the former governing party won in 1994. The ANC had 40,05% of the vote to the NNP’s 36,25%, while the DP trailed with 14,82% — according to the same figures.