A committee has been established in KwaZulu-Natal in the hopes of ”defusing tensions” between the African National Congress (ANC) and the opposition Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).
Both provincial leaderships met this week to discuss recent incidents of political intolerance and intimidation ahead of the general election.
The meeting was chaired by the IFP’s secretary general Musa Zondi and ANC provincial chairperson Zweli Mkhize ”with the view to defuse tensions between the two organisations and to put forward a workable solution”.
Both leaderships agreed on a joint contact committee (JCC) tasked with providing open channels of communication between the ANC and the IFP.
The JCC will facilitate discussion and be a platform where issues pertaining to electioneering will be discussed and resolved, before it could lead to disagreements or violence.
Both parties agreed that this was the preferred method of dealing with mutual problems.
The ruling party and the opposition also discouraged ”provocative statements” and ”hate speech”.
Zondi and Mkhize have called on supporters of both parties to honour the decision and exercise restraint and tolerance throughout the election period and beyond.
These were the same sentiments uttered by ANC president Jacob Zuma and IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi when they met in Durban last month.
Both leaders jointly called on members to exercise restraint and tolerance throughout the election period.
”We commit ourselves to consolidating and strengthening democracy in our country … and agreed to maintain continuous interaction,” Zuma said at the time.
Two days later two ANC supporters were injured in a hit-and-run incident at a rally in Pongola.
In another joint statement issued on Wednesday, both the IFP and the ANC said they ”regret violent activities of the recent past and reject any form of violence directed against anyone, anywhere in the province”. — Sapa