Ramaphosa Campaigns in KZN Province

South African President and leader of the ruling African National Congress (ANC), Cyril Ramaphosa, campaigns in the eastern KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) province, a key battleground in the country's May 29 general election.

KZN went to the ANC at the last election in 2019. But nationwide this election is set to be the closest run in decades.

The party backed by ex-President Jacob Zuma, uMkhonto weSizwe, could provide competition, not least because KZN is Zuma's home province.

With less than two months to South Africa's crunch election, scandal-tainted former president Jacob Zuma has stolen the spotlight in an unlikely comeback, further wounding the ruling ANC, analysts say.

Arguably the most polarizing politician in the country's history of democracy, Zuma's politicking can be enthralling or perplexing.

The ex-leader remains at the center of discourse both on and offline as he makes headlines almost daily for a series of political engagements and court battles over his legitimacy to run in the May 29 election.

In December, Zuma stunningly announced he would campaign for a new party, uMkhonto weSizwe.

"I’ve been very encouraged by the response of our people here and I get a good sense that in this area, in this precinct of KZN, the ANC is going to receive an overwhelming majority, it’s going to be brought back as the governing party in the province and also at the national level, so thank you very much." said Cyril Ramaphosa, South African and ANC President.

"I don't regret that decision," Ramaphosa told an electoral rally in a northern Johannesburg suburb.

"It was not specifically aimed at former president Jacob Zuma," he added.

That saw him suspended by the African National Congress (ANC), which is on the brink of dropping below 50 percent of the vote for the first time since it came to power in 1994.