EFF and Ngizwe Mchunu clash over Inanda venue as KZN campaign heats up

The EFF held its KwaZulu-Natal manifesto launch in Inanda on Saturday, the same day a maskandi concert hosted by Ngizwe Mchunu was staged about 4km away, after the party said it would not accept any claim that the area was closed to it.

EFF Secretary-General Marshall Dlamini told eNCA that no law limits where the party may campaign, and that the launch in Inanda was part of a plan to rebuild support it lost in the 2024 general election. He said the party had been told its fighters were not welcome in the area and that he had come to test that claim himself.

“There’s no law that restricts me to be anywhere, so all is well,” Dlamini said. “I’ve decided to come here just to check because there’s no one who’s going to tell us that there’s a no-go area of EFF in KZN.”

He said the party’s candidates were campaigning across the province and that the rally formed part of its rebuilding programme, adding that other parties were free to campaign as they wished.

The event 4km away

Mchunu, a maskandi figure who has become a vocal presence in provincial politics, hosted a free-entry concert about 4km from the EFF’s venue. He told eNCA he had not attended the party’s event and had respected it, and that he would not allow EFF leader Julius Malema to disrespect the people of KwaZulu-Natal.

“We’ve not gone to their event, we’ve respected it,” Mchunu said. “I will not allow Malema to disrespect the people of KwaZulu-Natal.”

He accused Malema of visiting the province rarely and of saying nothing of substance about it. He also said Malema’s call for unity sat badly with his position on people in the country illegally, and referred to the deaths of women in Ekurhuleni where, he said, no arrests have followed.

“Malema is in favour of illegal immigrants so that they can commit crime freely,” he said.

The two events were not formally connected. The collision of a party political launch and a maskandi gathering in the same area on the same day is the latest sign of how crowded the campaign calendar in KwaZulu-Natal has become, and of how closely cultural events and political mobilisation now sit alongside each other in the province.

What it means for voters in the province

For residents of Inanda and the surrounding areas, the practical effect was a Saturday of competing crowds, road pressure and amplified political messaging within a few kilometres of each other. Both gatherings went ahead.

No group, movement or individual may enforce the law or declare an area closed to a political party. Public campaigning is protected, and any attempt to prevent it by intimidation, blockade or threat of violence would be unlawful. The South African Police Service is the authority responsible for public order at gatherings of this kind, and no self-declared restriction carries any standing.

The EFF’s stated aim in KwaZulu-Natal is to recover ground lost in 2024. The province remains one of the most contested in the country, and its 2026 local government elections will turn on whether parties can convert crowds into votes.

Mchunu’s intervention is notable because it frames the contest in cultural rather than purely electoral terms, pitching the defence of the province’s identity against a national party’s campaign. That framing has traction in KwaZulu-Natal, where maskandi carries weight beyond entertainment.

Both the EFF and Mchunu spoke to eNCA on the day. Neither has published a further statement on the events since.

Source: eNCA, Politics vs Maskandi in KwaZulu-Natal