The African National Congress (ANC) have recognised Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s contribution to the liberation struggle and the post-apartheid political environment, following his death on Saturday.
The ANC said that while Buthelezi had a multifaceted relationship with the governing party and the nation, it said his legacy would be subjected to intense debate.
Buthelezi served as the traditional prime minister to the Zulu monarch since 1968, and in a democratic South Africa, he served as the Minister of Home Affairs in the Government of National Unity and a member of Parliament until the time of his passing.
Buthelezi joined the ANCYL as a student at the University of Fort Hare, working alongside the late Oliver Tambo, Robert Mugabe, Mangaliso Robert Sobukwe and other revered stalwarts of the liberation movement.
“Buthelezi became an inextricable part of South Africa’s body politic,” the ANC said.
Looking at Buthelezi’s legacy, the ANC said it was well documented that, on the advice of the leadership of the liberation movement, he returned home to assume his chieftaincy role and later became the Chief Minister of the KwaZulu-Natal government (Bantustan administration), “as it was agreed that this would be in the best interests of the liberation struggle”.
“History attests to Buthelezi’s progressively strained relationship with the ANC, exacerbated by the hostile political climate of the apartheid era. With the ANC leadership’s blessing, Prince Buthelezi founded Inkatha Yenkululeko Yesizwe with the view that it would be a unit of the ANC rooted inside the country,” the party said.
At the same time, the ANC was banned and its leaders were in exile or some imprisoned on Robben Island apartheid jail.
The ANC said Buthelezi keenly reported to the ANC in Lusaka and London about developments in the country.
“It is equally documented that in the 1980s and right into the late 90s, differences and conflicts sponsored by the third force (apartheid regime) created a rapture, resulting in horrific bloodshed in KwaZulu-Natal and in Gauteng. The rapture manifested itself in the form of the Boipatong massacre in 1992, Pietermaritzburg seven-day war in 1990, Shobashobane Massacres in 1995 and many others.
“Prince Buthelezi has a long-cherished vision of the ANC and IFP finding lasting peace in post-apartheid South Africa and being reunited with the prized membership of the ANC, his historical political home,” the ANC said.
The party further added its voice to offer its condolences to the family and the Zulu Royal Household in the Zulu Kingdom on Buthelezi’s passing.
“We send our deepest condolences to the family, friends and members of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP),” the ANC said.
kailene.pillay@inl.co.za
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