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The MK Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) promised to campaign for the ANC in areas where the party is "experiencing challenges", the organisation said on Tuesday.

"MKMVA members are highly trained and experienced in the art of mobilisation," national chairman Kebby Maphatsoe told a media briefing in Johannesburg.

Maphatsoe said veterans are "going to strengthen the ANC campaign in areas where the ANC is experiencing challenges."

MKMVA secretary general Ayanda Dlodlo said these areas included the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, North West and KwaZulu-Natal, where three African National Congress members were shot and wounded after an election rally in Nongoma in Northern Zululand on Sunday.

"We wouldn't want to see a situation in South Africa where certain areas are no-go areas. We do not have people we regard as enemies and therefore we do not expect any other political party to regard the African National Congress as enemies," said Dlodlo.

Referring to the Nongoma violence, Maphatsoe called MKMVA a "political army".

"Our aim is to go there and to explain to the people why it is important for them to exercise their votes independently without any fear of anybody," he said.

Dlodlo emphasised that her organisation's campaigning would be peaceful regardless of whether its members became victims of political violence.

"It's not as if we'll be going there with guns and our uniforms to defend the African National Congress in that sense.

"It's about making sure we are part of the mobilisation and machinery of the African National Congress.

"If violence erupts, there is nothing we can do as former combatants, we don't carry guns, we would rely on the armed forces of the state," she said.

Maphatsoe said that they would engage in "the defence of our people, but politically".

MKMVA would also campaign amongst current members of the SA National Defence Force. The organisation believed that voter participation among SANDF members had been too low in past elections.

Dlodlo said members of the military were able to participate in election campaigns provided they were not in uniform and activities took place in non-working hours.