The Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) claimed early successes in Nquthu‚ with reports of a landslide victory in a number of voting districts after by-elections at the dissolved northern KwaZulu-Natal municipality.

So overwhelming was the IFP’s clean sweep that many ANC members started to concede defeat on social media.

SABC radio reported that the IFP had won 14 of the 17 wards after Wednesday’s poll.

The Independent Electoral Commission is scheduled to announce the official results at 10am‚ while the provincial department of cooperative governance and traditional affairs is expected to announce unofficial results a bit earlier.

ANC accused of 'dirty tricks' in Nquthu elections by opposition partiesAs the sun set on Nquthu 73-year-old Ntombizini Mbatha went to bed on Wednesday night with high hopes of a better life for this tiny northern KwaZulu-Natal town of Nquthu. 

A win by the IFP would signal a comeback for the party‚ which lost the municipality in 2011 at the hands of a fractious ANC/NFP coalition.

While there was a nervous wait for the official results‚ the IFP looked set to control the uMzinyathi District Municipality.

-TMG Digital