As President Cyril Ramaphosa welcomed Southern African leaders to Durban in August, municipal workers demanding higher pay littered the streets of Pietermaritzburg with rubbish.eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal’s only metropolitan municipality, presented clean streets to its international guests. Northwest of the coastal city, the provincial administrative capital offered a different picture of local government. The campaign posters were more alike. In Durban, MK, IFP and DA posters displayed party leaders or mayoral candidates. ANC posters urged residents to register to vote, despite the voter registration deadline having passed. Putting Ramaphosa’s face on them would be risky because he was unpopular in the province, an eThekwini ANC leader told Business Day when we visited the city.That assessment points to the difficulties confronting the ANC ahead of the November 4 municipal elections. Its breakaway rival, former president Jacob Zuma’s MK party, is seeking to turn its provincial support into control of councils, including eThekwini.In Durban for the SADC Heads of State Summit today and tomorrow. Beautiful, clean city with lots of DA, IFP and MK posters ahead of the local government elections in November. Few ANC posters in sight pic.twitter.com/v5faDyP3lR— Thando Maeko (@HelloThando) August 16, 2026