I am issuing this statement as a unified response to the many media requests I have received for a reaction to the statement made today by former Minister of Defence, Mosiuoa Lekota.
It is not my habit to comment on what happens within other political parties and I have never said a word about their internal leadership struggles and turmoil. However, we have reached a point in South Africa in which the divide between the ruling party and the State has collapsed and matters affecting the ruling party have become matters of State affecting the future of our Republic. Under these circumstances, it is therefore imperative for anyone to take an interest.
The issues raised by Mr Lekota relate to the underpinning values of politics and the future of our Republic, and ought to be debated seriously, also beyond the boundaries of the ruling party. His comments have again brought to the fore an old debate on the underpinning values of our liberation struggle and how they ought to be implemented in the running of our country.
The founding father of the ANC, Dr Pixley ka Isaka Seme, was my uncle.
He, Inkosi Lutuli, Bishop Alpheus Zulu and other prominent founding fathers were my mentors. That is why when Jimmy Kruger, the then Minister of Police, said that Inkatha was an exclusive Zulu ethnic organisation, I responded by saying that Inkatha was structured on the ideals of the ANC in 1912.
The ANC was founded and managed by my relatives. After consulting Oliver Tambo, I formed Inkatha to complement the ANC's action when the ANC was banned and exiled. For this reason, when in 1979 Inkatha and the ANC broke apart, I made two statements which I believe to still be valid and relevant; namely that nobody owns the ANC copyright and that in its conduct Inkatha remains more faithful to the founding values of the ANC than the ANC itself.
We are now at the stage in which the values underpinning our society are under threat. What we have today is a far cry from the future our forefathers promised us in 1912 and to which my generation dedicated its life of struggle. We must not leave this legacy, but preserve it as a pool of values to inspire future generations.
For this reason, I agree with Mr Lekota that our society must come together to talk about these values and should do so not only beyond political divides, but also beyond that which now divides the political world and a civil society which is rightly becoming increasingly distant and disenchanted with politics. Hence, an all-inclusive approach to the conference he proposes, with the involvement of building blocks of society, such as churches, traditional leadership and business, is necessary.
Statement issued by Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, MP, President of the Inkatha Freedom Party, Durban, October 8 2008
