Jaspreet Kindra Thirty-three amakhosi previously aligned to the Inkatha Freedom Party are standing as Democratic Alliance (DA) candidates in December’s local government elections on the South Coast of KwaZulu-Natal. Lack of delivery and development, unemployment and growing disillusionment with the ruling IFP and the African National Congress government have prompted the traditional leaders to seek a new political home. While northern KwaZulu-Natal is an IFP stronghold, the South Coast has pockets divided between the IFP and the ANC. Lamonti and KwaXolo have, for example, been centres of conflict between the IFP and the ANC. The respect traditional leaders command in the rural areas is a major drawcard for the DA as it seeks to make inroads into the province’s rural electorate.
Its leader in the province, Roger Burrows, says “the presence of DA in a considerable area will have a calming effect on the areas of conflict”. The DA, he says, is going to lay heavy emphasis on good administration and delivery, rather than rely on “hectoring politics”. Wilson Ngcobo, DA member of the provincial parliament and vice-chair of the party’s southern region executive, says 22 amakhosi from the Umzumbe and 11 from the Izingolweni district crossed the floor to join the Democratic Party early this year. Prominent among them is the former minister of works in the old KwaZulu homeland government, Inkhosi Everson KwaXolo. Ngcobo himself was an IFP member of the old KwaZulu legislature. He was among the first from Inkatha to join the DP in late 1996 and has played a critical role in bringing the amakhosi in the region across to the DP. Within three months the party has also managed to raise 562 card-carrying members in rural areas such as KwaXolo, Nzimakwe, Umzumbe, Harding and St Faiths, according to the DA office in Shelley Beach. Ngcobo says that while the IFP is more concerned with traditional leaders than other parties, it has generally failed to deliver in the province. Banoyi Nzimakwe, a former IFP councillor in the Ugu regional council in southern KwaZulu-Natal, says the lot of his people has not improved under the IFP. He says he was drawn to the DP after watching the ANC’s mounting antipathy towards traditional leaders. The DA, says Ngcobo, respects the role of traditional leaders in the rural areas. He nevertheless accepts it is difficult for a traditional leader to wear two caps at the same time – exercising his powers both as a traditional leader and councillor. Nzimakwe, elected to the Ugu council from the proportional representation list, says he is quite happy to become a democratically elected leader. As one makes one’s way through the village Nzimakwe, named after his clan, outside Margate, he points out the kitchen gardens, the main source of income for his people. Disgruntlement in the area is rife. A young girl buying vegetables says she is a trained accountant. Refusing to reveal her name, she says, “There is no work here, I am going overseas!” The vegetable seller bursts out laughing. The accountant is joined by other young women who say they are planning to boycott the local government elections. There has been no delivery, they say. The yet-to-be-tarred access road leading from the highway into their village is a grim reminder of promises made and broken. “We have been waiting for more than five years for the road to be tarred,” says the accountant. As one drives down the mud road into the village, more cynicism awaits us. A group of villagers are busy working on a metal frame for a small bridge. Among them is former ANC member Thanduxolo Ncane. KwaXolo’s right-hand man, he is a ward candidate for the DA in the area. The residents, he says, are fed up with both the ANC and the IFP. The construction of the bridge provides short-term employment for very few people. Almost the same number of people without work hang around the construction site on the lookout for any errands they can run. They are all wary of political parties. “Everyone makes promises – no one keeps them,” says one angry worker, waving everyone off his turf. Ngcobo and Nzimakwe engage him, trying to convince him about the virtues of the DA.
Asked how people in the rural areas with a strong presence of IFP and ANC have been convinced to join the DA, which is perceived to be a “white” party, Ngcobo says, “Colour doesn’t matter any more. Here in this area you could be intimidated either by the ANC or the IFP, depending on which of the two you belonged to. The DP provides you with the third option – a safer option of peaceful existence.” Ncane says “everyone knows that the DA is the opposition party against the ANC. One day we will have the majority and take over the country.” Nzimakwe is now trying to convince a vegetable seller. He says he will be back with the posters after the other parties have put them up. And she is listening.