This weekend’s IFP national conference will look at ways for the party to consolidate its power in KwaZulu/Natal, report Ann Eveleth and Mehlo Mvelase
The rumour mills have been peculiarly quiet this week in the run-up to the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) national conference opening in Ulundi tonight. Party sources poured cold water on earlier proposals for a parliamentary walk-out, a Government of National Unity split, and other impending national dramas which have historically marked IFP conferences.
No battle cry sounded over the continued constitutional deadlock or the disappearance of international mediation from the agenda.
But the IFP signalled the first legislative salvoes of its controversial “20-point” autonomy bid with two provincial Bills preventing KwaZulu/Natal traditional leaders from accepting central government payment in terms of the Remuneration of Traditional Leaders Act.
Approved recently by the IFP-dominated provincial Cabinet amid fierce opposition from the ANC, the Bills are all but assured parliamentary approval next month, and promise to pose the first Constitutional Court challenge between the two political poles.
Restricting the king and chiefs from receiving remuneration from any source in the Republic other than the provincial government, the two Bills represent amendments to two Acts of the former KwaZulu Government, which themselves enshrine a system of control over traditional leaders beyond mere payments.
Sections of the KwaZulu Amakhosi and Iziphakanyiswa Act, 1990, which remain intact despite the amendment, empower the MEC for traditional affairs, Chief Nyanga Ngubane, in consultation with the provincial Cabinet, to “suspend from office any inkosi … suspected of having misconducted himself in any way … (including if he) becomes a member of, or takes part in the affairs of, an organisation or association whose objectives are subversive of or prejudicial to the government or law and order”. The proposed amendment to this Act further provides for any chief accepting unauthorised payment to be fined up to R500.
Since King Goodwill Zwelithini is also the chief of the Usuthu tribe, he could face this penalty.
The legislation is the third manifestation of the IFP’s 20- point plan — following Premier Frank Mdlalose’s unilateral withdrawal from the Intergovernmental Forum and the equally unilateral name change effected by Mdlalose’s new stationery for the “Kingdom of KwaZulu/Natal”. IFP sources say further moves are on the cards.
While most sources reject the possibility of IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi quitting the GNU to lead the provincial challenge, others point out that a recent move has made this unneccessary. Buthelezi opened a new Home Affairs office this week — in Ulundi — and he will frequently work from there, allowing him to take the reins of the IFP in advance of a “passive resistance” campaign to extract compromises from the ANC and National Party.
The sources say strategy talks this weekend will focus on how best to extract these concessions and bolster KwaZulu/Natal’s powers; the details of the passive resistance campaign; the local government campaign strategy and continued grievances over the ANC’s dismissal of international mediation; President Nelson Mandela’s handling of the Shell House killings; “broken agreements” on the ex-officio status of traditional leaders in local government; the “obstructive” role of the ANC in KwaZulu/Natal; and the ANC’s “roughshod” dominance of the GNU.
Also on the agenda are the IFP’s internal disciplinary problems occasioned by the leakage of the 20-point plan to the press, and MP Farouk Cassim’s public accusations of racism.
Secretary-general Ziba Jiyane has called for Cassim to “apologise or resign” before January, or face disciplinary action. More controversial is the “white coterie” charged by Buthelezi with leaking the document and undermining the party. Sources say party treasurer- general Arthur Konigkramer is set to take the fall for this, and his expulsion is widely predicted.