Inkatha Freedom Party leader and Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi has played down a meeting held with the ruling African National Congress this week, describing it as having “no bearing” on the coming elections.
Buthelezi was referring to a meeting headed by Deputy President Jacob Zuma on the ANC side and the IFP’s Celani Mthetwa who met at King’s House in Durban. It was reported in newspapers and on the SABC as resulting in an undertaking to work on a new cooperation agreement ahead of the coming general election.
The SABC reported that the agreement could help defuse fears of renewed clashes between the two parties like those in the run-up to the first non-racial elections in 1994 when, it said, about 12Â 000 people were killed.
But Buthelezi said a number of ANC political statements had “incorrectly characterised the IFP-ANC five-a-side meeting, which took place on Monday”.
“This was not a political meeting and has no bearing on the IFP’s political position in respect of the elections or thereafter. It was a long-scheduled meeting, part of an ongoing process of dialogue and consultation between the two parties since 1999.
“The president of the ANC, President [Thabo] Mbeki, and I recently expanded the original committee of three-a-side to a committee of five-a-side by each of us adding two additional members to the committee.
“On my side I added the names of Mrs Lauretta Ngcobo, a member of the IFP national council and of the [KwaZulu-Natal] provincial parliament and Miss Zanele Magwaza, another member of the IFP national council and also the mayor of the Zululand municipal district.
“I am informed that the president of the ANC added the two names of members of the national executive of the ANC, Mrs Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, who apart from being the Deputy Minister of Home Affairs is the national chairperson of the ANC’s Women League; and also the name of Ms Nomusa Dube, the Speaker of the eThekwini municipality.
“Since 1999, this committee has operated without their meetings being publicised or their discussions aired in the media. By the nature of the sensitivity of the discussions that take place in the committee … no press releases have ever been made about the content of these discussions.”
A national daily newspaper reported that the two parties were bidding to form a united front and reported ANC spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama as saying that it was too early to talk about a coalition (after the next election) — the two parties are at present in a coalition at national and KwaZulu-Natal government level.
The newspaper reported that this could avert a bruising battle in the province ahead of this year’s national and provincial election, expected in March or April. — I-Net Bridge
ANC, IFP meet, details kept secret