Inkatha Freedom Party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi blamed the SA Communist Party (SACP) and the Congress of SA Trade Unions (Cosatu) for the “dramatic increase” in unemployment, he said on Thursday.
He claimed the increase in unemployment from 29% in 1999 to 40% in 2004 could be directly attributed to the Government’s abandonment of their macroeconomic policy known as Gear (Growth, Employment and Redistribution).
“Cosatu and the SACP blocked privatisation and other efforts by government that would have allowed them to improve the situation and attract foreign investment,” Buthelezi said.
He was speaking at the signing of an agreement between the IFP and the Freedom Front Plus.
“We will co-operate on points of mutual agreement and understanding,” said FF+ leader Pieter Mulder.
Responding to allegations by the African National Congress that the IFP was making alliances with right-wing groups, Buthelezi said the ANC had no room to speak as they had forged partnerships with the SACP.
“One can’t get a more dinosaur party than them,” Buthelezi said, accusing the SACP of being out of touch with global trends.
The IFP leader was non-committal about his party’s chances in the upcoming election.
“I have no gut feeling about what will happen. Polls and pundits have been wrong in the past. I expect they will be wrong again,” he said.
Mulder, however, felt bullish and predicted that parties who had formed alliances and agreements with others would fare well.
He also predicted KwaZulu-Natal would have a hung parliament.
“It is a very real possibility,” he said explaining it would be as a result of the IFP’s alliances with the Democratic Alliance and its co-operation agreements with the FF+, provincial parties and the trade union Solidarity.
He said the country could not afford to have the ANC rule in all nine provinces.
The FF+ has also signed agreements with Solidarity and The Cape People’s Congress (CPC).
Mulder argued that South Africa was moving too closely towards two-party dominance, similar to the United Kingdom and USA. This, he said, should be prevented.
“Through alliances and partnerships the FF+ hopes to see a situation in which there are many parties but none have more than a 50% share of the vote. This is healthy,” he said.
On Wednesday, after the last Cabinet meeting before the elections, Buthelezi strongly hinted that he thought he would not be invited back to serve in the Cabinet.
In a statement — released with a general Cabinet statement — Buthelezi had thanked “his Excellency President Thabo Mbeki for having given us the opportunity to serve in his Cabinet”.
But Buthelezi, appearing to speak on behalf of his Inkatha Freedom Party colleague Correctional Services Minister Ben Skosana, said: “At times it has also not been easy for us to participate in his coalition Cabinet.”
Nevertheless, Buthelezi said: “I think history will credit him for his vision in promoting reconciliation between the IFP and the ANC [ruling African National Congress] in this manner.”
Buthelezi — who has been taken to court by Mbeki and Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development Penuell Maduna over immigration regulations — said further: “It would also be unkind of me on an occasion such as this one, to mention the low moments and the times when I felt that this Cabinet or my own president was unfair with me, or not sufficiently confident in my competence, expertise and good faith in the exercising of my ministerial functions.
“I would rather mention the many positive moments which we shared in this Cabinet, as together we attended to the concerns of the country.”
Praising the president for ably facing the huge workload as head of Cabinet, he said: “We are at the closure of a cycle which, in spite of its many conflicts and ups-and-downs, has served South Africa and has brought us closer to the point where our democracy can finally be regarded as having come out of the woods of the transition.”
“Much more remains to be done. What remains to be done will be the legacy that this Cabinet sends on to the next Cabinet. As we close this cycle, we do not want to anticipate what challenges will be confronting the next Cabinet, and how the next Cabinet will be best suited and composed to face those challenges.
“We wish to pause to thank President Mbeki and reflect positively on what has been done and the great experience we have shared.”
His words — while not indicating it directly — underscore speculation that Buthelezi will not be invited to serve in a unity Cabinet again.
He served in former president Nelson Mandela’s Cabinet from 1994 to 1999 as part of the national unity provision in the Constitution. The inclusion of minority parties fell away after 1999, but Mbeki invited the IFP to stay on in the Cabinet. – I-Net Bridge