PRINCE MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI MP

PRESIDENT OF THE INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY

Constitution Hill: 15 July 2011

The IFP joins in the launch of the ANC's centennial celebrations cognisant of the roots that our Party has in the events of 8 January 1912.

When I founded Inkatha yeNkululeku yeSizwe, the National Cultural Liberation Movement, in 1975, we made it clear that Inkatha was structured on the ideals of the African National Native Congress as propounded by its founding fathers in 1912. We have remained loyal to these ideals more than any other formation. 

As an expression of our common heritage, in September of 1984 the IFP erected a tombstone in honour of the late Dr Pixley ka Isaka Seme, who was my uncle and the founder of the ANC. The tombstone was built on his grave in Johannesburg. We unveiled it on the 14th September 1984.

Before I founded Inkatha, I consulted with Mr Oliver Tambo, who was then the President of the African National Congress, and he supported the founding of such a membership based organization. When I was summoned to Pretoria by the then Minister of Police, Minister Jimmy Kruger, in September of 1977, I presented a memorandum which made it quite clear that Inkatha was founded on the ideals of the ANC.

Mr Tambo and I remained in constant contact during his time as President of the ANC-in-exile and I consulted with him on many issues. In October of 1979 delegations of our two parties met in London and held discussions for two and half days on the issues of international sanctions and the call for disinvestment, and the beginning of an armed struggle. Our delegations could not reach agreement.

The IFP made it clear that we would adhere to the principle of the founding fathers of the ANC that our liberation struggle be conducted through non-violence.

Inkosi Albert Luthuli, who advocated non-violence, passed away during the time when liberation movements were banned. Leaders of the ANC in exile and the family of Inkosi Luthuli asked me to deliver his funeral oration at Groutville Mission where he was buried.

It is therefore without any qualms of any sort that we believe the centenary of the founding of the ANC is a celebration that involves the IFP as well, and the whole liberation struggle even by other political formations.

The year before his release from prison in 1990, former President Nelson Mandela wrote to me urging that we meet as soon as he was released. Yet that meeting did not take place. Later, Traditional Leaders in the Eastern Cape asked Mr Mandela why we had not met, for they knew we were friends and had communicated throughout his incarceration. Mr Mandela explained that leaders of the ANC and UDF had, in his own words, almost "throttled" him, insisting that under no circumstances should he meet with me.

Nevertheless, we met on the 29th of January 1991 in Durban with delegations of each organisation, and adopted a joint communiqué that committed us to addressing joint rallies of the IFP and ANC to facilitate the process of reconciliation between our two parties. Based on that communiqué, I invited Mr Mandela to address a rally with me in Taylor's Halt in Pietermaritzburg. When I heard rumours that he was no longer going to attend, I called him to discuss the matter.

He told me that the leader of the ANC in KwaZulu Natal, Mr Harry Gwala, had arrived at Shell House (as it was then) with a busload of KwaZulu Natal leaders to persuade him not to attend nor address the rally.

Since then, many efforts have been made to broach the issue of reconciliation and many promises have been made, but not yet kept.

At the unveiling of Mr Oliver Tambo's tombstone, Mr Cleopas Nsibande, who was an interim leader of the ANC in Gauteng at the time, revealed that he was present when Inkosi Albert Luthuli and Mr Oliver Tambo sent a message through my late sister, Princess Morgina Dotwana, that I should not refuse the leadership of KwaZulu if amaKhosi chose to elect me under the homelands policy that was imposed on us. 

Their rationale was that it would be in the interests of our liberation struggle if such a structure was led by me as a member of the movement.

It was at Mr Cleopas Nsibande's funeral that the Deputy President of the ANC, Mr Kgalema Motlante, spoke of Mr Nsibande's persistence in visiting Luthuli House every Monday to appeal for a dialogue between the ANC and the IFP. The Deputy President Mr Motlanthe assured us at the funeral of Mr Nsibande that they as the leadership of the ANC were committed to carry out what Mr Cleopas Nsibande implored them to do, every Monday he called on them at Luthuli House.

When I spoke in the National Assembly on the 15th of February 2010, I noted with regret that reconciliation had been muscled off the agenda by the present President of the ANC.

Notwithstanding all these difficulties, the IFP is part and parcel of the centennial of the ANC by virtue of a history that cannot be changed. For this reason, when the ANC's National Chairperson, Ms Baleka Mbete, invited me to attend today's launch, I agreed. And that was endorsed by the National Council of the IFP on the 9th of July 2011.

However, whether the IFP will have any part to play in the centennial celebration is in the hands of the ANC leadership. The IFP's National Council has written to Ms Mbete enquiring as to our proposed role, if any. We have not yet received a response.

Issued by the IFP, July 15 2011

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