MONDAY, 8.00AM
THE African National Congress is believed to have offered Inkatha leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi a more senior cabinet post — probably the second deputy presidency vacated by FW De Klerk — in return for his stepping down as chairman of the KwaZulu Natal house of traditional leaders.
An exploratory ANC document released to the media yesterday describes old foe Buthelezi as deserving of a post whose “stature befits a national leader”. But the document stops short of recommending a merger of the two parties, saying that each should recognised the sovereignity and ideological independence of the other.
The ANC also unveiled amnesty proposals for dealing with political violence in the province, in which amnesty hearings are made in camera, with a bar on the media and possibly even a bar on families of victims. The amnesty date would be extended yet again.
The IFP is understood to have approved the new amnesty formula, and to have submitted its own proposals to the ANC, which call for official recognition of the Zulu monarchy and the entrenchment of chiefs at local government level.
MONDAY, 5.00PM
Buthelezi on Monday refused to comment on the KwaZulu-Natal peace talks, saying: “Discussions are being undertaken between an IFP delegation and an ANC delegation … and whatever I say could be easily misinterpreted by either side as an attempt on my part to pre-empt their own reactions as people concerned in these talks.” With regard to a possible position as deputy president, Buthelezi said he could not respond to kites being flown about his possible future political position. “There have been no discussions between myself and President Mandela.”