IFP strategy ‘last kick of a dying horse’

The IFP has an ambitious strategy to root out warlords still associated with the party in northern Zululand.

At the end of its annual general meeting in Ulundi, the party said it would expel warlords who continued to set up ‘no-go areas and other hindrances against other party leaders” during electioneering.

The decision is part of a broader strategy, which party insiders see as the IFP’s only chance of reasserting its influence in South African politics and perhaps recapturing KwaZulu-Natal. They say it is ‘the last kick of a dying horse” on the part of party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who has confirmed he will relinquish power when his term ends in 2009. The 79-year-old politician will have been in power for 34 years.

The strategy, unveiled at the party’s 32nd national general conference at Emandleni Matleng FET College in Ulundi this week, ranges from capitalising on the weaknesses of the ANC to a massive regrouping by IFP affiliates. The party believes it has lost votes in the past because a significant number of its supporters in rural KwaZulu-Natal do not have proper documentation and because of complacency among supporters.

With control of 36 of 61 municipalities, the IFP rules more than half of the province and Buthelezi charged that he would lead the party to victory in 2009.

The conference, attended by more than 3 000 delegates, fell short of making major policy shifts and its resolutions painted a picture of a party regrouping and holding on to its traditional voters, rather than enticing new constituencies that have eluded the IFP in the past three elections.

The party resolved to establish at least one IFP branch in each ward in the province and seek to lure ‘floating voters”, particularly young people in urban areas.

The party is also set to revive its political education plans in camps for IFP cadres at a local level.

It has given branch leaders the task of conducting voter registration surveys in all voting districts and ensuring branch memberships are renewed. ‘The biggest political battleground in the forthcoming election will be the economy. The economy is the great divide in South African politics today. We must make the election about the economy, not about political personalities,” Buthelezi said.

‘The IFP has consistently pointed out that the Expanded Public Works Programme, for all its theoretical merits, can never be the answer to our high levels of structural unemployment. What South Africa needs to create jobs is an open labour market and we must create jobs fast.”

The IFP leader recommitted the party to fighting corruption at local government level, saying KwaZulu-Natal Minister of Local Government Mike Mabuyakhulu was targeting IFP municipalities, while turning a blind eye to corruption and mismanagement in ANC-led municipalities.

He condemned the ANC’s relentless ‘purge” of public servants perceived to support the IFP, saying hundreds of them had been hounded out of their government posts.

This week the party listed eight directors general who had allegedly been forced out of office: advocate Richard Sizani (premier’s office), Charles Dlamini (education), Eric Gumbi (royal household), Ronald Green Thompson (health), Mel Clark (economic development), Mbuzeni Mathenjwa (safety and security), EPM Hadebe (public works) and Bonga Ntanzi (arts and culture).