Durban - Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the traditional Prime Minister to the Zulu monarch and President Emeritus of the IFP, used the launch event for his legacy foundation yesterday to reiterate that he is positive that his party and the ANC can heal the wounds of the past and embrace the path to reconciliation.
“In the last two days something very important has happened. A statement was issued by the governing party in this province.
“The message was unsaying the things that have been said … very painful things said by some individuals in this province.”
He was referring to a statement issued by the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal in which the party wished him well on his 94th birthday.
Buthelezi said he had met with President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2019 and had raised the issue of the animosity that still existed between the two parties in the province.
“The leader of the ANC and I in 2019 were engaged and I requested one favour – I wanted the wound created between myself and the ANC to be closed.
“We pursued this many times – I still regard myself as a member of the oldest liberation movement in Africa.”
Buthelezi said he may have been unpopular because he did not support sanctions against South Africa during apartheid, but he said he spoke to people on the ground and they told him that they would starve if sanctions were imposed.
He said former ANC president Oliver Tambo wanted him to endorse the armed Struggle and economic sanctions.
“We debated this, it was not an acrimonious discussion but there was no mandate from the people of South Africa to take up arms. I could not appeal to people’s children to cross the border to die while my children were protected.”
Buthelezi also said he wanted to clarify that he formed the IFP at the behest of Tambo.
“That is why when Inkatha was formed, it was rooted in the ideals of the ANC, on the basis of negotiation and peaceful strategy.”
He said that former health minister Zweli Mkhize had phoned him on Wednesday morning and had complimented him for the statement he issued in response to the ANC statement.
“Zweli Mkhize is one of my friends,” Buthelezi said.
In the statement issued on Wednesday Buthelezi said: “Having digested what they have said about me, and the fact that they said it, I felt it important to publicly thank the new leadership of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal for what can only be described as a prospect of hope. I feel that perhaps the time has come where our parties will sit down and heal the old wound between us. I welcome that with open arms. It is deeply encouraging.”
Earlier, Bongi Sithole-Moloi, MEC for Agriculture and Rural Development, said without Buthelezi, the history of KZN would be incomplete.
“When there is a need for support to ensure the archives are there to preserve the work he has done, we are able to support him.
“We must find a way to allow peace to prevail in our province. Let us forgive each other but not forget our history.
“Now we must find each other. If we don’t then we won’t see peace and prosperity in this province. Let’s make a better KZN, we are known for taking the lead.”
Sithole-Moloi quoted ANC provincial secretary Bheki Mtolo, who on August 27 issued a statement regarding Buthelezi turning 94.
“To this end, as the ANC, we are challenging leaders of society across all corners of the province to follow in the footsteps of Shenge.
“We are all born to do good to ourselves and to others. We too can strive to be the best that we can be in our lifetimes just as uMntwana wakwaPhindangene and other Struggle heroes have done. We too can double our efforts to build KwaZulu-Natal to be a better province than yesterday,” Mtolo had said.
The Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi Foundation was officially launched yesterday “to preserve Buthelezi’s legacy but also to contribute to society at large”.
Buthelezi said he was humbled by the tremendous work that has gone into the foundation.
“I am humbled by the mere fact that a group of individuals saw fit to formally capture the principles of my life’s work and create a vehicle through which those principles and that work can be carried forward.”
He said the mission of creating social justice and economic freedom is one that will never be completed.
“It will require constant pursuit, and we can only ever get closer to the goal while furiously fighting the rising tide of injustice. It has always bothered me that no matter how many houses are built, or schools opened or clinics erected, there are still those who are homeless, uneducated and ill. There is always too much to do, too many problems to contend with, too much suffering to endure.
“It is incomplete, simply because it will always be necessary.”