Dear friends and fellow South Africans,
In April 2002, former President Nelson Mandela said, "We have used every ammunition to destroy [Buthelezi], but we have failed. And he is still there. He is a formidable survivor. We cannot ignore him."
I quoted this admission in Parliament on Tuesday, during my response to the President's State of the Nation address, saying that I admire President Mandela for his honesty about the ANC's long-term mission to destroy me and my Party. I regret that we do not see that same measure of honesty in the leaders of the ANC today.
It is evident that some leaders within the ANC are still pursuing this dastardly agenda, despite our having achieved democracy 17 years ago and despite the ANC's majority.
Responding to the mountain of evidence I put before the National Assembly of the ANC's involvement in fomenting ructions in the IFP, the ANC's Premier in KwaZulu Natal, Dr Zweli Mkhize, yesterday told the NCOP that it was "scurrilous garbage", "a vicious attack" and "disinformation" peddled by "gossips". With great bravado, he threatens a lawsuit.
Dr Mkhize challenges me to submit the evidence to the Speaker of the National Assembly. I have in fact submitted a copy of the evidence to every single Member of Parliament, and am now making it available on the IFP's website (see links below). I have nothing to hide. This is not a game I thought up to distract myself.
I have no doubt Dr Mkhize is trying to goad me into a reaction. But I have said everything I wish to say in Parliament and the facts are now on the record. I do wonder, though, what exactly Dr Mkhize is questioning.
Is he suggesting President Mandela was lying? Is he denying the fact that Madiba made this statement? Is he denying that the total destruction of the IFP has been an ANC project?
What about all the statements by the ANC covered in the media? Is he denying that these media articles exist? Or is he suggesting the media lied when they quoted ANC leaders attacking the IFP and taking sides in our internal ructions?
Does Dr Mkhize deny that Councillor PG Mavundla is the Chairperson of the ANC in the Bhambatha Region? Or only that he is a close confidante of both President Zuma and himself?
Is he suggesting, against legal practice, that sworn affidavits are not evidence? These sworn affidavits were made following an official meeting of the Umvoti Municipal Council. They were not taken down at the local shebeen (see here - PDF).
I asked the ANC in the National Assembly what I am to make of documents that purport to be ANC minutes, which refer to the ANC's "secret funding" of Mrs kaMagwaza-Msibi to campaign in IFP strongholds (see here - PDF). I asked the ANC, in the National Assembly, during the State of the Nation debate, because I want to know the truth. As I said on Tuesday, our people have a low tolerance for lies.
It is interesting what lengths Dr Mkhize went to in his speech to the NCOP to explain that the ANC has not taken sides between me and Mrs kaMagwaza-Msibi. He even painstakingly points out that President Zuma's invitation to me to meet with him in July last year did not signal the President's support for my leadership of the IFP. That much is obvious, considering the President's advice to me in that meeting to step down.
But Dr Mkhize's carefully worded speech reveals a keen desire not to brush Mrs kaMagwaza-Msibi up the wrong way. After all, she has publically indicated that she would consider an alliance with the ANC if it served the interests of her Party.
Dr Mkhize has not been taken by surprise by my statements in Parliament this week. He was approached before on this issue of the ANC's involvement in the ructions in my Party, but he chose to do nothing about it.
This is the same grievance I have with the President. I approached him, I presented the evidence and I sought his intervention, so that we could resolve this problem without having to bring it into the public domain.
But the President did nothing.
The tensions stirred up by the "Friends of VZ" brought bloodshed and political treachery back to KwaZulu Natal. Now that the "Friends of VZ" have organized into the National Freedom Party, hostility is mounting, for people know well that the ANC has funded this rupture. Lives are being lost in KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng. The problem cannot be ignored.
I have asked the question, which Dr Mkhize repeats, "Can Mr Zuma be trusted as the President of South Africa while he is distrusted as the President of the ANC?" Dr Mkhize answers by admitting that "the IFP has a lot of people to distrust", but he avers that President Zuma is not one of them.
What then must we make of the ANC's ongoing mission to see the IFP wiped off the political map, under President Zuma's leadership? It is dishonest to talk about a vibrant multi-party democracy, when the ruling Party is so intent on creating a one party state.
Yours in the service of the nation,
Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi MP
Other links:
www.ifp.org.za/Downloads/SONA_2011-FINAL_15_February_2011.pdf
www.ifp.org.za/Downloads/ANC_STATEMENTS_ON_IFP_2009.pdf
www.ifp.org.za/Downloads/ANC_STATEMENTS_ON_IFP_2010.pdf
www.ifp.org.za/Downloads/ANC_STATEMENTS_ON_IFP_2011.pdf
Issued by the Inkatha Freedom Party, February 17 2011
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