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ANC national chair Gwede Mantashe says the governing party has no intention of legally challenging election results as it monitors the “biggest surprise” of the MK Party leading early in the vote count in KwaZulu-Natal.
Speaking at the IEC’s national results operation centre in Midrand on Thursday, Mantashe described MK’s lead as the governing party’s “biggest surprise”.
“We appreciated that there was going to be a huge contest, but it came from an angle that we did not really expect. We thought the IFP was going to give us hard times, but now the MK Party has punished both the ANC and the IFP. That was the biggest surprise,” Mantashe said in an interview with eNCA.
Mantashe was hopeful the governing party had a fighting chance.
“We are doing relatively well as we are just under a million votes with more than 2-million counted. We hope we can breach 50%. If MK wins KZN, we will not contest because numbers will be saying so. We will not take the IEC to court to contest the election outcomes. We are not objecting to the outcome. We will accept the results.”
The governing party before the elections had initiated a legal showdown against the MK Party, but it lost. The ANC had dragged Zuma’s party to court arguing the party was named after the ANC’s disbanded military wing and wanted it deregistered.
Mantashe said the ANC had no difficulty with ensuing disciplinary action against Zuma, though the party has not expelled its former president for breaching the ANC constitution by leading an opposition party while still an ANC member.
Mantashe had suggested to the ANC that Zuma face disciplinary action after the elections.
“There is no tough task. He has moved on and he is doing well with his new party. He cannot double park,” Mantashe said.
