By: Mbali Manaka – This consultation was convened by the Democracy Development Program, to identify biggest areas of concern for political parties in KZN and their needs in-terms of capacity building.

The principal objective of this information session was to firstly, familiarise political parties with the work of DDP and the KZNDEF and then secondly, find out from the parties in attendance, how DDP and the KZNDEF can support them in their political processes as they gear up for the 2019 elections.

In this session, the conveners (DDP), opened a platform that allowed members in attendance to share their biggest areas of concern as they move towards elections. Both the DDP and the KZNDEF  (KwaZulu-Natal Democracy and Elections Forum) will assist in resolving the most dominant, agreed upon areas of concern that lie within their capacity and specialty.

The KZNDEF is a forum of NGOs (Non-Governmental Organisations) working with the IEC (Independent Electoral Commission) and religious leaders on peace-building, the promotion of good governance and democracy deepening in the KZN province.  In the past elections, the KZNDEF deployed monitors in and around KZN, this deployment was described as the largest in the province since 1994.