Wooing the Zulu vote pays off for South Africa's ANC

Residents wait for taxi transport beneath election posters in Pietermaritzburg in South Africa's KwaZulu Nataal province, in this picture taken April 29, 2014 REUTERS/Rogan Ward

ISIMANGALISO South Africa (Reuters) - If the African National Congress maintains its 65 percent majority in South Africa's May 7 election, it will be thanks in large part to rural ethnic Zulu voters such as Alfred Sabela.

"We have water and a tar road. Before, we fetched water from the river," said 43-year-old Sabela, standing by the makeshift shop from which he hawks carvings near iSimangaliso Wetland Park, a major tourist attraction in a once-neglected area.