"MY AIM IS TO ENSURE PEACE"
31 October 2012
Several newspapers have reported on the statement by the ANC's Provincial Executive Committee accusing me and the IFP of trying to "solicit sympathy. through unfounded allegations" of an assassination plot against me. The ANC's PEC has "categorically" denied involvement in such plot, which it calls "baseless and mind-boggling".
The insightful words of Hamlet's mother come to mind: "The lady doth protest too much, methinks", for I have never accused the ANC of being behind this plot. When I was interviewed by Mr Justice Malala on ETV last week, he tried to draw me into implicating the ANC, but I suggested he draw his own conclusions based on the facts, which are as follows.
In August 2010 the then National Commissioner of Police, General Bheki Cele, accompanied by the KwaZulu Natal Commissioner of Police and her Deputy, came to see me in my office in Ulundi to warn me of intelligence that my life was in danger. Based on this intelligence and his assessment of the danger, the National Commissioner took it upon himself to increase my security.
There was never a suggestion that the plot against me had been abandoned. In fact, I continued to receive intelligence that my life was in danger. On the 12th of September 2012, I spoke in Parliament during a Joint Sitting debate and challenged our country's intelligence structures to investigate reports that my name is on a hit list.
I am not in the habit of making baseless allegations in Parliament. This is not something I have hinted at in the media to garner sympathy. It is something I have spoken about publically in front of our country's top leadership, and discussed with our country's top leadership.
My intention in speaking about this is to bring it into the open in the hope that those involved will be dissuaded. If I can achieve that, I will have prevented a great deal of violence. My aim, as always, is to ensure peace.
Statement issued by Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, IFP President, October 31 2012
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