KwaZulu-Natal, like the rest of the country, is heading into the final stretch before the 4 November local government elections, with the Electoral Commission of South Africa (IEC) reporting that preparations in that province are on track and no so-called “no-go areas” have been reported.

KwaZulu-Natal is facing a major electoral exercise, with 26 497 candidates competing for 2 166 seats across municipalities in the province. A total of 111 political parties and 104 independents are contesting the elections. It is also possibly heading for a major shake-up, as Jacob Zuma’s uMkhonto weSizwe Party aims to make major gains at the expense of the African National Congress.

Provincial electoral officer Ntombifuthi Masinga told the media that preparations were progressing well, with political parties also committing themselves to peaceful elections by signing the Electoral Code of Conduct.

“So far, we are doing very well as a province,” Masinga said.

The IEC has spent months putting structures in place to prevent disputes from disrupting voting. Eleven regional conflict co-ordinators and 41 members of conflict-resolution panels have been deployed across the province to identify tensions and settle disputes before they escalate.

A multiparty political intervention committee has also been convened to help deal with tensions between competing parties, and security preparations are being coordinated with the South African Police Service.

With most of the major preparations now in place, the remaining work is largely focused on finalising arrangements for election day.

“We are ready, and what is left is minimal for us to conclude,” IEC KwaZulu-Natal manager Dr Khulekani Zulu said.

KwaZulu-Natal historically been one of the most politically contested provinces, making the absence of reported “no-go areas” significant as election day approaches. In the past, it has been afflicted by outbreaks of political violence, and in the 1994 election, virtually the entire province was divided into areas controlled by one or other of the contesting factions, making election campaigning extremely difficult for rivals. Effectively, the whole province was a patchwork of no-go zones. It was also the centre of the 2021 riots that the state proved unable to control.

The state of electoral preparation in the province, however, underlines the stability of the established institutional framework through which South Africa has learned to conduct competitive elections. This is a significant achievement.