Ann Eveleth=20
Inkatha Freedom Party hardliners this week=20 succeeded in uniting the KwaZulu-Natal opposition=20 against their increasingly divided party.=20 Apparently straining under the weight of a=20 democracy which would have forced them to negotiate=20 a provincial constitution, the party’s hardline=20 cabal of national leaders wilfully burned its=20 bridges with the minority parties whose support is=20 essential to the magical two-thirds vote the party=20
In a move harking back to the one-party years of=20 the KwaZulu homeland, the IFP rejected the emerging=20 multi-party compromise, reneged on a “gentlemen’s=20 agreement” with its closest ally — the National=20 Party — bent the relevant parliamentary rules to=20 its liking, drove out the opposition and imposed=20 its will on the province. “We are the majority=20 party here. We will not be held to ransom by the=20 minority parties,” said IFP national hardliner=20 Walter Felgate.=20
The tense walk out by the opposition on Tuesday=20 followed an IFP decision to forge ahead with a=20 controversial motion “instructing” the multi-party=20 constitutional committee to draft a constitution=20 according to the party’s confederal-style “Green=20 Paper” – despite an earlier agreement to postpone=20 the issue until eight of the National Party’s nine=20 MPs returned from a caucus meeting in Johannesburg.=20
NP spokesman Pieter van Pletzen said his party had=20 “been stabbed in the back”. Ironically, the NP,=20 which Van Pletzen said agreed with 75 percent of=20 the Green Paper principles , was earlier optimistic=20 about the IFP National Council’s weekend decision=20 to extend its constitutional deadline to December=20
The NP has historically sided with the IFP in=20 KwaZulu-Natal, as have most other minority parties=20 which identify with the IFP’s “federalist” claims,=20 but this week’s events saw these parties forming a=20 formidable joint opposition alongside the African=20 National Congress. The opposition waged a fierce=20 battle to prevent the IFP tabling the motion, as it=20 had not given the Speaker the requisite 10 days=20 notice. The IFP said the notice had merely gone=20 “astray”, and moved to table the motion as a=20 “matter of urgent public importance”.=20
Venting his anger before he joined the walk out,=20 Democratic Party MP Roger Burrows jeered at IFP=20 provincial MP Maurice Mackenzie, who fumbled=20 reading the motion drafted by the hardliners.=20
Party insiders describe Mackenzie as a puppet of=20 the hardline cabal with no grasp of the issues at=20 stake, and as their “spy” in the provincial caucus.=20
Mackenzie’s deployment on the task follows the IFP=20 national council’s recent censure of former=20 constitutional committee chairman Aurthur=20 Konigkramer for his largely sucessful negotiation=20 strategy. Observers say his replacement with=20 moderate chief whip Mike Tarr was engineered by=20 hardliners who wanted a more malleable channel for=20 their strategies in the province.=20
Having whipped party moderates into line during=20 recent National Council meetings, the party’s power=20 elite — comprising Buthelezi, correctional=20 services minister Sipo Mzimela, Buthelezi’s=20 longtime advisor Walter Felgate and Italian- American Home Affairs advisor Mario Ambrosini –=20 have embarked on a wide-ranging confrontation with=20 provincial opposition parties (see story below). =20
Adding insult to injury, the IFP tabled a motion=20 aimed at restructuring the constitutional committee=20 in its favour, depriving two of the smaller parties=20 of votes, handing one to itself and one to the ANC. =20
Minority Front (MF) leader Amichand Rajbansi said=20 four parties could not possibly share two votes.=20 “The IFP needs a lesson on how to win friends,”=20 Rajbansi said.=20
NP MP Con Botha believes the IFP will have to make=20 a deal to get the two-thirds vote, and the latest=20 crisis is the work of “Buthelezi –the peddler of=20 idle threats”.=20