The African National Congress (ANC) and Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) are engaged in high level talks to end animosity between the two parties.
Relations between the ANC and IFP broke down in early 1980s after they differed on the strategy to fight apartheid.
This was followed by bloody clashes in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.
The political violence left scores of people disabled, orphaned or widowed.
In the 90s, the late President Nelson Mandela and Former IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi initiated reconciliation efforts between the two parties.
However, the talks collapsed. During the last IFP conference in 2019, Buthelezi reiterated that his biggest wish was for the ANC and the IFP to reconcile.
And now, his wish might just be realised.
Reconciliation talks between the two parties have started.
Buthelezi and ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa recently met to discuss the matter.
ANC’s KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Secretary Mdumiseni Ntuli says: “If you look at IFP and ANC we basically represents the same type of constituents, black people in general, Africans in particular but of course who in terms of the economic status are at the bottom of the socio-economic status of our country. So, the discussions have been there in the early 90s and got disrupted and now we have resuscitated them the discussions.”
“The primary objective of the discussions is to say to the IFP that we represent a common agenda, so we thought lets resuscitate the conversations. Because the difficulties we are facing today as a country are of such a nature that we are not going to make qualitative process if the oppressed remains divided.”
The decision by the IFP to pull out from supporting the DA in the City of Johannesburg was a start for the ANC and IFP to cement their relations.
In return, the ANC has promised to back down from wanting to topple the IFP governed municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal.
However, ANC leaders are facing resistance from one of its regions.
Party leaders of the ANC’s Mzala Nxumalo region in Vryheid want to wrestle control of the municipality from the IFP.
The IFP is viewing this as a betrayal.
IFP NEC member Thulasizwe Buthelezi says: “To us the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal is an untrustworthy partner because in the City of Johannesburg as the IFP we have enabled the ANC to govern through our votes.”
Another contentious issue is the name of the ANC region – Mzala Nxumalo. The IFP wants it changed as one of the conditions of the negotiations.
The party says the late ANC activist Mzala Nxumalo wrote a defamatory book about the former IFP leader titled “Chief with a Double Agenda”.
“To us Mzala Nxumalo who wrote a vitriolic book insulting our founder and insulting the IFP, to us it shows that the ANC is not really committed to reconciliation and in fact wants us to return back to the days of conflict.”
ANC leaders from the Mzala Nxumalo region seem to be against a name change.
However, Ntuli says they will engage the IFP on the matter.
Political analyst Precious Lugayeni says any discussions between the two parties must be truthful and should involve the victims of the violence.
