Mzansi Now: Why Former President Jacob Zuma remains popular in KwaZulu-Natal

Per-Anders Pettersson

Jacob Zuma’s 66-year long political career prior has been marred by indictments on fraud, corruption, racketeering, money laundering, tax evasion, state capture, and more. As of November 2025, he still faces charges related to events that took place before, during, and after his nine year presidency. Despite his long history of legal battles, Zuma remains not only politically active, but supported in the province of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). 

Zuma’s turn toward the MKP 

Zuma was president of the African National Congress (ANC) from 2007 to 2017, and president of South Africa from 2009 to 2018. He resigned under pressure from his party amidst a series of corruption scandals and infighting between ANC members. At the time, his approval rating was 22%, the lowest of any South African president since the advent of democracy. 

During the run-up to the 2024 general elections, in December 2023, Zuma endorsed the newly founded uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MKP) while remaining a member of the ANC. He claimed his endorsement was out of a refusal to continue supporting Cyril Ramaphosa, the ANC’s president as well as the nation’s. Shortly after his endorsement, the South African Electoral Commission confirmed that the MKP had listed Zuma, instead of the party’s founder, Jabulani Khumalo, as its leader. Ten days later Zuma expelled Khumalo and four others from the party, calling them “rogue elements”. Though Zuma is barred from serving in the National Assembly himself due to his recent legal issues, he was the clear commander of the MKP’s campaign, and made the party his own. 

The 2024 elections 

In these elections, the MKP won almost half the vote in KwaZulu-Natal, primarily among the province's ethnic Zulu majority. In both KZN and across the nation, the ANC lost their outright majority for the first time in the history of South African democracy. The nation’s electorate gave them 40.2% of the vote with just under 6.5 million ballots cast– almost half of the 10 million that the ANC received in the 2019 general election. 

Alternatively, the MKP won 14.6% of the national vote, equating to 58 seats in the National Assembly. In KwaZulu-Natal, the MKP received the highest shares of the votes with over 45%.  Some of the AdNC’s biggest losses were here too, falling from 54% to 17% when compared to the 2019 elections.

The ANC’s Failure in KZN

In KZN, many residents felt failed by their government and found the MKP, with Zuma at the mast, to be an attractive alternative. Floods in 2022 decimated the region, destroying water services, electrical infrastructure, and thousands of homes. It wasn’t until months after the event that the government provided temporary shelters, water tanker services, and other humanitarian relief. Three years after the floods, people are still displaced and suffering from poor management of the disaster.

The wealth gap is another problem faced by KZN residents more so than in other provinces. 60% of adults in the province live in poverty, and a majority of these individuals are Black Africans. The top 5% of earners in KZN are white, presenting a clear link between racial and economic inequality. This issue is one that was addressed in depth during the MKP’s campaign, but has largely gone ignored by the ANC’s policies. 

Additionally, the lack of progress in addressing issues like high unemployment and poverty, which were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, led to significant public dissent across the province. As a result, only 10% of KwaZulu-Natal residents reported satisfaction with how democracy was functioning by late 2023, 12 percentage points below the national average. Distrust in the government and dissatisfaction with economic conditions turned civilians away from the ANC in hope of something better. 

The MKP’s Success in KZN

The MKP filled the vacuum for KZN residents through its promises to address inadequate access to health care and quality education, inequitable land distribution, and national security threats. The party’s manifesto cites that many of the current political structures in the nation are rooted in colonial practices, and claims that such practices are to blame for poverty, unemployment, and economic inequality throughout the nation. Given the linkage between racial inequality and wealth inequality, KZN residents were ripe to hear the MKP’s goals as ones that would seek to eradicate enduring colonial policies. 

But the MKP’s politics were not its sole appeal. The party also garnered support through the employment of identity politics. The ANC was founded to unite Black Africans above the tribal divisions encouraged by apartheid era policy, and would later broaden this mandate to unite South Africans of all colours towards a nonracial society. But Zuma has used tribal identity as a mobilization tool. He has called progressive ideas about nonracialism elitist, and in 2024, campaigned on the promise to give more power to traditional Zulu leadership and African customary law in the KZN province.

The KZN is predisposed to find an emphasis on tribal identity appealing. During the apartheid regime, neighborhoods in the province were segregated by ethno-linguistic identity, encouraging the formation of homogenous political movements based on tribal identity. Because over 80% of the population is of Zulu descent, Zuma was able to mobilize the province by giving speeches in isiZulu, calling his critics “anti-Zulu”, and drawing parallels between his recent corruption scandals and his 1963 imprisonment for protesting Zulu oppression during apartheid.  

Zuma is undeniably supported by residents of KwaZulu-Natal, seen in public demonstrations since his campaign for presidency in the mid-2000s. During mass protests calling for his resignation from the presidency in 2017, Zuma supporters rallied in Durban and claimed that his opposition was attempting to use unconstitutional means to remove him from power. After being sentenced to prison for contempt of court in 2021, protesters gathered at Zuma’s homestead in Nkandla to protect him from being arrested. And as a result of  his 2023 endorsement, the MKP claimed to gain one million new members in the two days.  

Zuma’s sustained popularity in the KZN was made clear in the 2024 election results. Since then, the KZN has experienced more disastrous flooding, higher unemployment, and an increase in violent crime. In November 2026, the local government elections will decide on municipal councilors. These elections will act as a test to see how civilians are responding to the MKP’s newfound power in KwaZulu-Natal and provide more insight into the future of Zuma’s regional stronghold.