Mantashe admits surprise at MK performance in KZN
The ANC’s national chairperson, Gwede Mantashe, admitted to being surprised by uMkhonto We Sizwe’s performance in KwaZulu Natal.
Mantashe visited the IEC’s National Results Operations Centre in Midrand on Thursday.
On Thursday, after a long day of voting, leaders of various political parties made their way to the results centre.
Standing in the shadow of a massive national leaderboard displaying all the results as they come in - the reality is hitting home for parties across the political spectrum.
On Thursday morning, the results from various districts in KwaZulu-Natal put former president Jacob Zuma’s party in the lead.
Nationally, the ANC was at the top of the list with 42%, followed by DA at 25% and EFF at 8%
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However, Mantashe said the ANC was not overly concerned at this stage.
"MK is doing well in KZN, they have surprised me, but I am not expecting the same in other provinces," he said.
The ANC led in Limpopo, the Northern Cape, the North West, Mpumalanga, Gauteng, Free State, and the Eastern Cape.
Mantashe was confident that this was a sign that the governing party would perform well in these provinces.
"We are going to do relatively well. We are on 42.5% now, and I'm still confident we will get over 50% because there are areas we mobilised that haven't come in yet," said Mantashe.
Mantashe then turned his ire on the media, saying it had contributed to the ANC’s decline.
"When journalists do that, they cease to be journalists. They become pundits," said Mantashe.
“We are going to swim against the stream; we are streaming against it, and we are going to be successful.”
