Ivor Powell
Faced with recent opinion polls which suggest it could lose its KwaZulu-Natal heartland to the African National Congress in the June elections, the Inkatha Freedom Party is pursuing a double strategy.
On one hand, its election manifesto makes it clear the IFP is looking to promote itself as a national party – rather than the almost exclusively KwaZulu-Natal-based grouping it has been since 1994 elections. In line with this, the IFP has announced it will be contesting elections in all nine provinces.
Balanced against this, however, the IFP is also looking to consolidate its power in KwaZulu- Natal. Former insiders suggest the attempt to build a national profile is no more than a distraction from its real agenda.
This agenda centres on the creation and entrenchment of a “Kingdom of KwaZulu” as a federal unit in the greater South Africa.
Opening the provincial legislature last month, Premier Lionel Mtshali surprised his audience by his party’s call for international mediation to define a political role for the Zulu monarchy. The issue – which threatened to derail 1994 elections – has been in abeyance, and, from the ANC side, it was hoped that the forging of closer ties between the parties had forestalled the demand completely.
But the issue of the monarchy is also tied in with the continued existence of traditional authority structures in the province.
With local government elections scheduled to be held in rural KwaZulu-Natal next year the IFP could be facing a massive loss of influence in the province. Sustained as it is largely by the authority of traditional leaders, the IFP could be looking disaster in the face in its rural strongholds.
With a demarcation process already taking place that could redefine rural constituencies to balance out the chieftaincies and empower democratically elected leadership, the IFP could lose its political hold.
IFP representative Musa Zondi confirmed the IFP would continue to resist on the local government issue, and said it would not back down.