ANC confident of its position in Msunduzi municipality ahead of by-election

The ANC in KwaZulu-Natal's Moses Mabhida region is confident it will swing votes in its favour in Wednesday's hotly contested ward 28 by-election in the Msunduzi municipality.

This was the word from regional chairperson Mzimkhulu Thebolla on Monday.

The party is touting Parusha Chetty as its candidate. She has had a mammoth task trying to convince voters to throw their weight behind the party in an area with stuttering service delivery.

“We can confirm that the people of ward 28 have accepted us. This is just a matter  of formality,” said Thebolla.

The by-election comes after the DA terminated the membership of its councillor Lucky Naicker, 67, after he was found guilty of being at odds with the party's constitution.

His suspension lasted more than six months and he was slapped with a string of charges.

Naicker has thrown his hat into the ring as an independent candidate.

Thebolla argued that Naicker's expulsion from the DA was due to pressure from his party.

“Had it not been for pressure from the ANC, we believe Naicker would still be a councillor,” he said.

The DA did not have an electioneering programme, Thebolla added, concluding that this was a result of “rejection” by the community.

“We have utmost confidence that our victory is certain. The enormity of focus of our tasks remains that of building a nonracial, non-sexist, safe and prosperous society,” he said.

The ruling party has had several by-election upsets in KwaZulu-Natal.

In eThekwini, the party was dealt a heavy blow when it was pipped by the IFP in a ward 99 by-election in December.