Ann Eveleth analyses the outcome of the special IFP meeting in Ulundi last weekend
All eyes focused on Ulundi last weekend, when the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) met to decide its fate in the government of national unity (GNU). The parliamentary walk-out nearly two weeks earlier appeared to signal the death-knell of the reconcilation politics of the past 10 months and IFP leader Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi had warned diplomats of a possible pull-out from the GNU.
Diplomatic sources revealed to the Weekly Mail & Guardian this week that Buthelezi told them in a briefing just after the February 21 drama that he would “probably” pull out of the GNU if the African National Congress (ANC) and National Party (NP) failed to honour the agreement on international mediation.
“I doubt we would have any other option. The agreement is what brought us to Cape Town,” he reportedly said.
The anticipation had the country braced for a new political show-down and a possible bloodletting in kwaZulu/Natal. Yet when the controversial politician ascended to the podium for the final leg of the three- day pow-wow on Sunday, he sported the uniform of the African peacemaker in an embroidered white tunic and hat not unlike the garb popularised by those former African statesmen now seeking to play the role of wise elders to the continent.
It was in this vein he responded to the dissenting voice of Youth Brigade Publicity Secretary Zenzele Phakathi when he militated for an immediate pull-out from the Constitutional Assembly (CA): “I understand the anger of our youth on this issue, I was once a youth myself … (but) if we make haste slowly on this matter, that would be wisdom itself.”
The decision to grant an extra month’s “breathing space” to deputy president Thabo Mbeki to sort out the impasse before pulling out of the CA, and the shelving of plans to vacate the high offices of the cabinet was a remarkable turn-around of a potentially explosive
The ANC and other observers immediately interpreted the move as a “back-down”, arguing that Buthelezi had painted himself into a corner by threatening a withdrawal and noting that the party’s 48 parliamentarians would sorely miss their new pay
But Buthelezi denied this, again seizing an opportunity to cast himself as a “responsible” leader: “We are not in the business of climbing up and climbing down … there are serious issues at stake,” he said.
The apparently conciliatory line from the man who nearly scuttled South Africa’s first all-race elections spoke volumes for the new image the party was trying to project. As one IFP leader said: “We are sick of being called the spoilers.”
University of Natal political scientist Professor Mervyn Frost argued that in terms of the April 19 agreement: “Inkatha definitely has the moral high ground, and they’re not going to give that up easily — they’re playing to an international audience.”
Buthelezi seemed to acknowledge this when he told the conference: “Today we are living in a global village, the whole world is focused on South Africa over this
A “rational” approach to a constitutional impasse could help Buthelezi regain some of the international kudos he held in the 1970s and 1980s but lost in the 1990s when foreign leaders began to fete the ANC.
It was these lost allies Buthelezi appealed to when he said: “The notion of a contract even precedes democracy … a country which does not respect contracts will not have any other form of respect, whether it is respect for life, property, individual rights or human values.”
The impasse also coincided neatly with Mbeki’s appearance at the prestigious G-7 summit, yet no major panic overtook the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) following the walkout, nor did the impasse evoke the flurry of international interventions which accompanied the party’s pre-April boycott.
Diplomatic sources this week remained reticent on the mediation debate which they referred to as “an internal
One observer, noting the muted response to the impasse, suggested the IFP had overplayed its hand with boycott politics: “How many times can you cry wolf and still get a reaction?” he asked.
Although the IFP credits Mbeki’s telephonic intervention into the IFP’s National Council meeting on Friday night and a perception of growing public support for the mediation effort with offering hope of a resolution, the low-key international response must also have reminded the IFP’s leadership that the road to international acceptability is not paved with
The ANC also minimised its response to the crisis. ANC MP Blade Nzimande described the walkout as an “another IFP tantrum” and said: “They were expecting us to run after them, but we decided to let them stew in their own soup.”
Nevertheless, Mbeki’s phone call to Buthelezi appears to have been the light at the end of the tunnel for party moderates who hoped to avoid a head-on conflict with the ANC.
The emergence of the party’s modernist secretary general Ziba Jiyane as a key figure at the conference marked a significant departure from the militant arguments presented at last year’s conference by former constitutional negotiator Walter Felgate, who was still recovering from heart surgery.
Jiyane’s argument won out at a conference marked, unusually, by dissenting youth leaders geared for a walk-out. At least half of the conference committees tasked to hammer out resolution proposals supported this stance, but fell into line following Buthelezi’s intervention.
The strength of this “moderate” argument will, however, be tested as the 30-day deadline approaches. Although the IFP opted to focus its first attack on the CA, where its minority status is smarting the most, other official and unofficial resolutions are still on the table and suggest that last weekend’s decision was little more than a strategic retreat. As IFP spokesperson Peter Smith said: “We are not just sitting on our butts for 30 days doing nothing.”
Other formal resolutions included:
* A rejection of any constitution not written by
* A mandate to the IFP-controlled kwaZulu/Natal government to: restore the kingdom of kwaZulu; adopt a new constitution within six months; and resist central government interference.
* A demand that the 50/50 rural local government plan be implemented; and
* A call on the government to abandon the Truth
The focus shift away from the national parliament to the province was a central theme of Buthelezi’s speech when he compared the conference to “a general standing on the top of the hill from which he looks down to the valley where his two armies are ready for battle, a provincial army and a national army … it seems … that our provincial army must be ordered to stand up and march towards the new frontiers of freedom and
This is likely to be followed by an assertion of strength in the province, especially in the bid to adopt a “federalist” constitution, complete with judicial and policing powers, say IFP sources. Any attempt by the central government to “turn off the taps” will be resisted in the Constitutional Court on the basis of constitutional guarantees that “every province shall get an equitable share of resources”, the sources add.
The provincial “mandate” — which is due to be reviewed at the party’s annual general conference on July 21 to 23 — renewed speculation that Buthelezi could vacate his post as minister of home affairs to return as the new premier of kwaZulu/Natal later this year. Although Buthelezi said the party had “no such agenda” he added that it was “not impossible”.
A list of “unofficial” resolutions put forward at the party’s plenary session indicate that the party has not abandoned its campaign to ensure it gets more than a 10 percent say in the final constitution.
Campaign options which could be implemented if mediation does not get under way include:
* Pull-out of CA within 30 days;
* Pull out of the GNU 30 days later;
* Wage “passive resistance” campaign in parliament;
* A government pull-out together with rolling mass action to be implemeted on March 31; and
* A second parliamentary walkout on April 30.
Frost said it was possible the IFP would implement some of these options which, he added, were not beyond the limits of a democracy.
He predicted a year of “high drama” ahead of the October local government elections with bi-weekly crises over international mediation, federalism, the king, chiefs and East Griqualand.
“In order to keep these people on board, the IFP has to present very highly symbolic issues to them at regular intervals to show that it is strong and brave and doesn’t blink in the face of Goliath” he added.