Son and successor to the longest serving traditional prime minister of Zulu nation recalls his father’s teachings.
It has been a year since the founder and leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party and traditional prime minister Prince Mangosuth Buthelezi has died but his impact will live forever.
So says his son Prince Zuzifa Buthelezi who has also become the leader of the Buthelezi clan.
Prince Buthelezi says they still remember the impact he had in their lives even though they shared him with the nation for more than five decades.
Speaking to Sunday Tribune after they had performed Ihlambo, which is a cleansing ceremony, the prince expressed the family’s satisfaction in the manner in which the ceremony had been conducted.
He added that it was difficult to come to terms with the fact that it had been a year since the longest serving traditional prime minister of the Zulu nation had passed on.
At the same time he acknowledged that much as his father was liked by many, he was not always popular and even had individuals who wished him harm.
“We have come to expect that as a human being there will be a section that does not like him and we are at peace with that. What we will not forget are his teachings and leadership features which he demonstrated to us his family and the nation,” said Prince Buthelezi who assumed the role of traditional leader in December.
He also made an impassioned plea for people to refrain from saying nasty things about the late leader. “People should just let my father rest in peace,” he said.
Prince Buthelezi, who describes himself as a reluctant politician said they had learned to be resilient in line with the example the late statesman set to them as a family man and a leader.
He said his father had demonstrated the resilience, remaining married to their mother, Princess Irene for 60 years, leading the Inkatha Freedom Party for decades and serving as the traditional prime minister for 70 years - adding how this showed an individual that worked with commitment.
“One of the features I am grateful for is that my father never steered me towards politics but allowed me to be and because of that, a sense of being self sufficient was instilled in me at an early age,” said Prince Buthelezi who recalled how his father would give opportunities to others, and not his children.
The prince who is also an IFP Member of Parliament, said his father would have been encouraged by the working relationship that had been reached been the African National Congress and the IFP after the May 29 elections.
According to Professor Musa Xulu of Indonsa Cultural Institute, which is a think tank on cultural and political matters, Buthelezi was a rare breed of a leader that managed to juggle many roles at once without failing.
“It is not always easy to mix democratic politics with traditionalism, Buthelezi was, however, relatively successful in finding his way around both. He was also a Christian and part of the Anglican church,” said Xulu.
He cited how the late Buthelezi would lead the performance of traditional Zulu rituals singling out the lifting of King Misuzulu to the Zulu throne.
He noted how his political legacy was somehow mixed as it related to his role as leader of the KwaZulu Bantustan Homeland and the subsequent deadly clashes between his iNkatha ( later IFP) and the United Democratic Front and the ANC, especially in KZN and parts of Gauteng which left thousands of people dead.
Xulu also believed that Buthelezi would have been happy about the performance of the IFP in the elections of 29th May, 2024.
“The current IFP leadership expected more. It must also be understood that the entirety of the 2024 political campaign machinery was very toxic, and had only one common message from all opposition political parties, which was the removal of the ANC from power. According to my objective knowledge of Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, he would not have accepted this approach. He always had a very soft spot for the ANC and genuinely wanted the ANC and the IFP to work together,” Xulu stressed.
He pointed that the working relations that were being established would have excited the late elder statesman.
“He carried the Zulu Royal Household and Kingdom on his shoulders since the unveiling of the King Shaka statue in KwaDukuza in 1954 till his death in 2023. He was very passionate about rightfully placing the Zulu Kingdom in a meaningful contextual framework within the democratic dispensation of the Republic of South Africa, confirming that it is indeed a sub national kingdom. It was for this reason that he maintained good relations, especially with President Cyril Ramaphosa,” said Xulu.