Senior Inkatha Freedom Party officials say that IFP chairperson Ziba Jiyane has fallen into a carefully laid trap by letting himself be drawn into a public slanging match with party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
A member of the party’s national executive committee (NEC) told the Mail & Guardian that Buthelezi’s strategy was to “send out his lieutenants”, IFP youth brigade leader Thulasizwe Buthelezi and secretary general Musa Zondi, to vilify Jiyane and draw him into political mudslinging.
“IFP President [Mangosuthu] Buthelezi’s strategy was to force Jiyane to show his hand before the annual general conference in September so that he has a full month to deal with him,” said the NEC member, who asked not to be named. “It’s an opportunistic master stroke, because the president is trying to ensure his own survival.”
Mangosuthu Buthelezi apparently decided to take advantage of comments made by Jiyane at a Durban IFP Youth Brigade rally over the weekend, where he said the IFP had suffered electoral losses because voters would not trust a party that practised “internal dictatorship rather than internal democracy”.
The NEC member said that would give Mangosuthu Buthelezi ammunition against Jiyane, who would be hauled before a special national council meeting to explain himself. Mangosuthu Buthelezi will appear “untainted and untouched … the unifying father bringing the party together”, said the NEC member.
The M&G understands that the IFP claim, that it had to postpone its annual national conference from July to September because the venue was booked, was “only partially true”. The real motive was to allow Mangosuthu Buthelezi to bolster his popularity, to stave off any no-confidence vote. “The IFP’s influence could have done something about a booked venue if it wanted to,” said the NEC member.
This week Jiyane stood by his comments, telling the M&G that while the IFP “had a democratic constitution, it retains undemocratic practices”.
Although Zondi had ordered the youth brigade to cancel the rally, and instructed him not to address it, Jiyane said that he had ignored the orders because “the only elected leader in the brigade, Linda Hlongwane”, had invited him. He accused Thulasizwe Buthelezi of being a Mangosuthu Buthelezi “appointee” and described him as “corrupt and arrogant”.
This week Thulasizwe Buthelezi and Zondi released press statements denouncing Jiyane. They said the party would “not tolerate nor allow political opportunists, masquerading as ‘reformists’, to [destroy] the IFP”. Jiyane defended himself by accusing the party of “lacking vision” and calling for a transformed and “democratically elected” leadership in line with the decision taken at last year’s annual general conference.
He said the IFP’s unelected national council had undermined elected leaders like himself and his deputy, Stanley Dladla, who was forced to resign because they were “treated like criminals” in national council meetings. He added, “I’m not a political novice; I don’t usually air party political matters in public. But I’m afraid that if I don’t tell the truth about what is happening in the party, the IFP will die. In September a number of MPs are planning to defect and I don’t know how we are going to keep people from abandoning us.”
Jiyane said he had not been informed about the special national council meeting where he will be asked to account for his comments over the weekend. If summoned, he would “carefully consider attending” because the national council was an “illegitimate” body.