After defeating the ANC in a fiercely contested by-election on Wednesday in Ward 2 of the Richmond Municipality, the uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) is confident. The ward was thought to be one of the ANC's strongest provincial support bases prior to the by-election. But that all changed when the MKP, led by Jacob Zuma, won 54% of the vote and the ANC got 39%, a huge drop from the 84% it got in the local government elections in 2021.

The EFF secured third place with 5%, while the IFP and Gayton McKenzie’s Patriotic Alliance (PA) both received a meagre 1% each. Msizi Dlamini of the MKP will now take over as the new Ward 2 council member. Floyd Shivambu, Secretary-General of the MKP, celebrated the victory by posting the following on X (previously Twitter): "When we announced the Top 8 of the KZN detachment in January 2025, we guided that the province, region, sub-region, and all MK Ground Forces must defend the gains of uMkhonto weSizwe in Richmond Ward 2." That's exactly what we did. Continue to read In spite of the defeat, the ANC still controls eight of the council's 14 seats, followed by the EFF with two.

The MKP, DA, IFP, and Independent candidates each hold one seat. Even though the ANC sent prominent figures like Deputy President Paul Mashatile to campaign in the ward in January ahead of the election, the party still lost. Siboniso Duma, the party's former provincial chairperson who is now the second provincial deputy convener in a restructured structure, also launched a significant charm offensive, but it was unsuccessful in influencing the more than 4,000 registered voters. In contrast, Willies Mchunu, the provincial convener of the MKP, and Bongani Baloyi, the party's head of elections, led a significant campaign. The resignation of the previous ward councillor sparked the by-election.

The official opposition in the country, the MKP, which was founded in 2023, now controls three wards—two in KZN and one in the North West—with this victory. The next by-election, scheduled for next Wednesday in Joubert Park, Johannesburg, will again pit the ANC against the MKP and EFF, among others, in an effort to keep a ward.