Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) President, Velenkosini Hlabisa, says a reconciliation between the African National Congress (ANC) and the IFP is only dependent on the governing party’s apology to the late Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi for calling him a sell-out.
He was speaking at the Gauteng memorial service for the late Traditional Prime Minister of the Zulu nation in Soweto yesterday afternoon.
Both parties were involved in what they called black-on-black violence which claimed over 20 000 lives before the 1994 elections.
It was Prince Buthelezi’s wish to have the ANC and the IFP reconcile before his death.
Hlabisa says both parties must own up to the violence but insists the ANC has to apologise first.
VIDEO | Remembering Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi:
German coalition lessons
Meanwhile, Hlabisa says they have learnt a lot from the German coalition government experience.
He visited Germany to learn about how they can effectively work in coalition with other parties.
The IFP is among several parties under the Multi-Party Charter which hope to work together to reduce the ANC majority to under 50% during the 2024 national elections.
Hlabisa says, “The main leaders in the charter were there for seven days and we learnt a good experience that coalitions exist in different spheres of government with a combination of different parties. As to what people decide when they vote, the IFP has made a decision to join the multi-party charter to rebuild the charter. Over thirty years we have seen worse; we had high hopes and dreams for our country to prosper but it is painful that after 30 years the youth are unemployed and corruption has robbed our people.”
