Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s Online Letter
Dear friends and fellow South Africans,
In May 1991, the Government, under former President FW de Klerk, proposed a two day conference to elicit a commitment from political leaders to end the violent conflict that had already cost some 8000 lives. The ANC dismissed the proposed conference as "a propaganda ploy" and the ANC’s leader, Mr Nelson Mandela, warned it was being used "to build a smokescreen to conceal… reluctance or inability" to act.
I had a sense of déjà vu this past week, when the Government in KwaZulu Natal announced a ‘reconciliation ceremony’ in Pietermaritzburg purportedly to heal the divisions between the ANC and the IFP. It has been reported that the IFP dismissed the proposed ceremony as an electioneering ploy. But I find myself echoing the words of Nelson Mandela that this ceremony was a smokescreen to conceal a reluctance to act.
Prior to this ceremony being announced, Premier Mkhize sought to convene leaders of the ANC and IFP to discuss how the message of peace could be brought to the communities of KwaZulu Natal. The IFP sent a delegation of its leadership to attend this meeting. But the ANC’s delegation never arrived. It appears they are reluctant to do the groundwork; but quite willing to play the hero.
Far from being water under the bridge, there is still a rough sea of unfinished business between the ANC and the IFP. I have tried for two decades to bring a resolution, but my efforts have not been met with any tangible action on the part of the ANC. I cannot help but question why the Premier suddenly called this ‘reconciliation ceremony’, particularly in the long-suffering community of Taylor’s Halt.
The painful history of Taylor’s Halt is captured in the memory of our people and the written record of our past. During apartheid, it was called "Cuba" by members of the UDF. After liberation, it was referred to in the TRC documents. Today, it is still lamented in the homes of our people who were widowed and orphaned during the terrible ANC-IFP conflict.
But Taylor’s Halt is also the theatre of our first attempt at reconciliation, which was foiled by ANC warlords bent on continuing the violence. On the 29th of January 1991 delegations of the ANC leadership and the IFP leadership, led by Mr Mandela and myself, met in Durban. We agreed that from that point on both Mr Mandela and I should address joint rallies in KwaZulu Natal and Gauteng to express to our people the intention to bring peace.
Shortly afterwards, I was invited to address a rally at Taylor’s Halt in Pietermaritzburg. I proposed to Mr Mandela that he and I use the opportunity to make our first joint appearance. Mr Mandela agreed.
Yet, just before the event, I was told that Mr Mandela was no longer going to attend, and I phoned him to verify this rumour. He admitted to me that Mr Harry Gwala had brought a busload of ANC leaders from KwaZulu Natal to the ANC’s Head Office in Johannesburg to urge him not to accompany me to Taylor’s Halt. To this day, I regret that he gave in to their demands.
More recently, before the 2009 elections, President Jacob Zuma publically stated that the outstanding business between the ANC and the IFP needed to be resolved. This year, before travelling to Brazil, he expressed his intention to meet with me upon his return. That meeting never took place, as the President was unavailable. Before his State visit to Britain he repeated his assurances, but again we did not meet.
When he invited me to King’s House on 16 July this year, President Zuma expressed his regret that we have not yet come together to discuss the unfinished business between the ANC and IFP which flows from the conflicts of the eighties and nineties. I then spoke candidly about the involvement of some influential ANC members in the internal battles of the IFP, which creates the perception that the ANC is not sincere about reconciliation.
President Zuma expressed surprise and made a commitment to deal with these matters. But having heard nothing from him since, I was compelled to approach Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe on 18 August to raise the same concerns. He too was surprised by what I related, suggesting that the President had never taken our conversation further. I now also await the Deputy President’s response.
My question is why the ANC has chosen this moment to bring our people together in a ‘reconciliation ceremony’. There has been no lack of opportunities to do so in the past twenty odd years since the ‘People’s War’ was waged in the eighties and early nineties. I have not been reticent in approaching the ANC, seeking reconciliation. But I have made it clear that a show of reconciliation without resolving unfinished business is meaningless, misleading and bound to backfire.
My point has already been proven through the failed Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which resurrected old wounds and exposed pain that has never healed; but did nothing to reconcile the victims and the perpetrators. The Commission had no means to identify the truth or even to question the declarations made before it. It had no power to bring justice or punishment; only a perverse absolution.
The Premier of KwaZulu Natal, Dr Zweli Mkhize, confirmed this averment when he spoke about this past weekend’s ‘reconciliation ceremony’: "Although the violence ended… some people are still scared to meet other people because of what they did to them. This is because there has never been reconciliation."
There has never been reconciliation; because reconciliation cannot occur in the absence of acceptance of responsibility and a genuine willingness to bring change.
The IFP has again been demonized for "snubbing" the ‘reconciliation ceremony’ in Pietermaritzburg this weekend. Our absence was all the more prominent because the Premier’s office ran an advert announcing my participation, even after I had made it clear that the IFP would not engage this event. The ANC managed to make it look as though we had withdrawn our support, when in fact our support had never been given.
It is not that we reject reconciliation. Rather, it is that we know one cannot arrive at the doorsteps of people who were widowed and orphaned by the internecine violence and say, "Now we are reconciled". Reconciliation is a process that must begin with the leaders and percolate down to the grassroots. There is no point in sending mixed messages to South Africa’s people.
Either the violence has ended, or it has not. Although we are leagues away from May 1991, when the death toll in the ANC’s ‘People’s War’ rose to 29 per day, we are still seeing politically-motivated violence and even murder, both in Gauteng and KwaZulu Natal. Injuries and fatalities tend to escalate as elections draws nigh.
We therefore appreciate the gesture made by the Government in KwaZulu Natal to "heal and cleanse" the community of Taylor’s Halt. But again this community has been the theatre of a leadership that is not quite reconciled.
Yours in the service of the nation,
Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi MP
Contact: Liezl van der Merwe, Press Secretary to Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi MP, 082 729 2510.
