IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi says that despite rising tension between his organisation and the ANC, he and President Thabo Mbeki have yet to meet at party-to-party level to resolve differences.
Buthelezi, who is the Home Affairs Minister, also told the Parliamentary Press Gallery Association on Wednesday that he had unsuccessfully tried to convince Cabinet to hold off on a controversial constitutional amendment he believed would harm relations between the IFP and the ANC.
He was referring to a measure that provides for floor-crossing at national and provincial level, but also protects five KwaZulu-Natal MPLs who prematurely defected to the ANC from losing their seats.
This would swing the balance of power in KwaZulu-Natal in favour of the ANC, which currently co-rules the province with the IFP. Two of the defectors were from the IFP, a further two from the DA, and one from the UDM.
Buthelezi said he had tried very hard in Cabinet to ensure the measure was put on hold, as it would harm relations between the IFP and the ANC.
”But I was not successful.”
Buthelezi was reluctant to expand on the deteriorating relationship between the IFP and the ANC, saying there were some things that could not be said through the media.
He also hinted at frustrations that he and Mbeki had yet to meet at party-to-party level to discuss problems between the two organisations. Buthelezi would not be drawn on whether the IFP intended to abandon its co-operation with the ANC and withdraw from the national Cabinet.
”Obviously if there was something to write about, I would not have conveyed that to our partners in government or our counterparts through the press, and any decision taken in that respect would be conveyed to you by both affected parties.”
However, when asked if he was likely to leave government, Buthelezi said: ”I was invited to the government. The government of national unity expired in 1999 and then Mr Mbeki invited me. When Mr Mbeki says I must go, I’ll go.”
Buthelezi said that for ”a very long time” the IFP had tried to improve relations with the ANC.
A three-a-side committee had been set in 1999.
It consisted of Deputy President Jacob Zuma, ANC secretary-general Kgalema Motlanthe and ANC treasurer-general Mendi Msimanga on the one side, and KwaZulu-Natal premier Lionel Mtshali, Deputy Public Works Minister Musa Zondi and KwaZulu-Natal MEC Celani Mthethwa for the IFP.
The committee had been urging him and Mbeki to meet in its presence, Buthelezi said.
”Somehow they believe that is the only way that will help us to take the way forward. That meeting has not taken place.”
After the controversial decision that saw Ulundi lose out to Pietermaritzburg as KwaZulu-Natal’s capital, despite vehement objections from the IFP, Zuma decided to set up a 15-a-side committee.
”It didn’t achieve anything. There was nothing serious. It was nothing compared to the recent bosberaad the president held with former president FW de Klerk. Nothing like that has happened.” – Sapa