The uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK Party) has singled out the Eastern Cape as a strategic priority as it seeks to dent the African National Congress’s provincial dominance and reduce the governing party’s national support ahead of the 2029 elections, the Mail & Guardian reported.
High-profile mobilisation in a traditional ANC heartland
Senior MK Party insiders told the Mail & Guardian the party believes the Eastern Cape — where the ANC won 62.2% of the vote in the 2024 national election — presents an opening as the ruling party contends with leadership contests and court challenges that have disrupted its provincial structures.
According to the report, the MK Party has intensified activity in Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City, pointing to favourable by-election results and ground-level campaigning. Jacob Zuma has been prominent in the province this week, meeting traditional leaders and addressing public rallies — tactics the MK Party used during the 2024 campaign in KwaZulu-Natal and elsewhere.
“The plan was that Zuma should be the one who focuses on that area because he is the one who can open things,” an MK Party source told the Mail & Guardian.
That source told the newspaper the party’s by-election performance suggested it could grow to between 15% and 20% on the national ballot, and that the long-term objective was to push the ANC’s national support to around 30% by 2029.
ANC internal disputes have left a vacuum
The MK Party’s interest in the province comes as the ANC’s Eastern Cape elective conference was halted by a court order in March. The challenge, brought by ANC members Lwazi Rotya, Sinethemba Mpande and Nompumelelo Mzotywa, raised questions about branch processes, delegate verification and accreditation. With the conference unable to proceed and the provincial executive committee’s term lapsed, the party’s national executive committee appointed a provincial task team in May to oversee provincial affairs.
Political analysts caution that disarray within provincial structures can create opportunities for challengers, particularly in metropolitan centres where service delivery and local governance issues already influence voting behaviour. The MK Party’s focus on Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City, both metros with complex service and governance records, appears calculated to exploit those vulnerabilities.
- Target areas: Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City
- MK Party projection: 15–20% nationally based on by-election results
- Long-term aim: Reduce ANC national support to ~30% by 2029
Numbers and strategy
The Mail & Guardian reporting frames the MK Party’s Eastern Cape effort as part of a broader two-province strategy designed to chip away at the ANC’s base. The party sees momentum from earlier electoral showings and believes high-profile visits by Zuma can unlock further gains among traditional leaders and voters disillusioned with the ANC’s provincial management.
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| ANC vote in Eastern Cape (2024) | 62.2% |
| MK Party projected national support (by-elections) | 15–20% |
| MK Party national target (2029) | ~30% |
For the ANC, the publicised legal challenge and the appointment of a task team by the national executive committee underline a period of internal recalibration. How the ANC addresses the governance vacuum and restores provincial organisational coherence will be central to whether the MK Party’s incursion yields lasting electoral change.
Local stakeholders and voters in metros such as Nelson Mandela Bay and Buffalo City are likely to judge political offers on the basis of service delivery and local administration as much as on national narratives. Political contestation in the Eastern Cape will therefore be fought on both local government performance and broader party loyalties.
As campaigning ramps up, the Eastern Cape will serve as a test of the MK Party’s capacity to convert by-election momentum into broader voter shifts, and of the ANC’s ability to manage internal disputes and defend its traditional support in a province that has long been central to its national strength.
Reporting note: This account is based on reporting by the Mail & Guardian as described in the source material.
