South African Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi on Wednesday gave the strongest hint that he was unlikely to be reappointed to President Thabo Mbeki’s government after the national election in April.
At what appeared to be his last briefing to the media as minister after 10 years in the post, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader said: “Should I leave my department, as is likely, I am now confident that it has adequate administrative leadership and a man of integrity at its stewardship.”
He was referring to last year’s appointment of Barry Gilder as director-general after a long period of poor relations with his previous director-general.
Today’s remarks have fuelled speculation that Buthelezi’s IFP would not be reappointed to the cabinet after the next election and follow a heated debate on Tuesday between Buthelezi and former African National Congress minister Pallo Jordan, in which Jordan called on Buthelezi to leave the cabinet.
The IFP was first appointed to the government of national unity in 1994 by President Nelson Mandela in terms of the constitutional provision at the time that parties with more than 5% of the vote would serve in cabinet.
Although the government of national unity fell away in 1999, the ANC was re-appointed to the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government led by the IFP and the IFP was re-appointed to the ANC dominated national cabinet.
Buthelezi’s party — the only former homeland party which has played a part in government consistently since non-racial democracy in 1994 — had three ministers in the cabinet holding the posts of Home Affairs, Correctional Services and Arts, Culture, Science and Technology – until last week when his deputy national chairman, Ben Ngubane, resigned as minister to take up a diplomatic post. Ngubane had been Arts, Culture, Science and Technology Minister.
If Buthelezi goes, it is likely his counterpart, Correctional Services Minister Ben Skosana, will also be dropped from cabinet after the next election.
It could also see the end of ANC participation in the KwaZulu Natal government if the IFP and the official opposition Democratic Alliance achieve a majority of votes together in that province.
ANC spokespersons have until now said that any accommodation of the IFP in cabinet would be dependent on the outcome of the April election.
Buthelezi’s party has consistently outpolled the national ruling ANC in KwaZulu-Natal — although this election is widely expected to be a neck-and-neck race in the predominant Zulu-speaking province.
Buthelezi, as traditional prime minister to the Zulu King, has held political sway particularly in rural areas of KwaZulu-Natal.
The IFP’s recent rapprochement with the official opposition — with which it has formed a “coalition of change” — has also strained political relations with the ANC.
Earlier this week Buthelezi said he had been obliged to work with the DA as the system of defection introduced by the ANC had robbed his party of some of its elected representatives. – I-Net Bridge