Inkatha Freedom Party leader Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi says he will be in peace if President Cyril Ramaphosa can sort out what he calls, the unfinished reconciliation between the African National Congress and the IFP. Buthelezi spoke in an exclusive interview with SABC news in Parliament ahead of his 90th birthday on Monday and his retirement from Parliament later this year.
Prince Buthelezi has been an IFP member of Parliament for over 24 years and he will retire in a few months time.
Since 1994 he has been an MP under various presidents and had different relationships with them. He says the late former president Nelson Mandela had confidence in him.
“Madiba of course was someone who it was clear had full confidence in me because while they blocked him from seeing me for a year,- the UDF did this and also some leaders in the ANC. But you know they could not destroy our friendship. He was only too happy when the interim constitution prescribed that any leader who gets more that five percent of the votes should be in the cabinet, so he invited me and my colleagues into the cabinet and also Mr De Klerk. And so we worked very closely together.”
He says his relationship with former President Mbeki was as close as the one with Mabiba.
“Mr Mbeki in the same way, I remember he was sent by Madiba to go and talk to President Kabila Senior, – not this one in DRC and he (Mbeki) came to me and said Shenge let’s go. We get on like a house on fire. We had some differences but did not destroy the friendship and mutual respect Mbeki and I had for each other”
He says his relationship with former President Zuma was respectful.
“President Zuma and I respected each other, but I don’t think,- in spite of the fact that we both came from KZN, I think the other presidents (Mbeki and Madiba) were closer to me that he and I were. So really because you see after Polokwane when he toppled Mr Mbeki he invited me to a hotel in Durban, Edward Hotel. And he said to me when he takes over as president he would like us to continue working together and I agreed. But then after the elections he then invites me to say he is giving the IFP two deputy minister positions you know. So we rejected that you see. So this is the difference between him and the others”
With regards to President Cyril Ramaphosa Prince Buthelezi says there are outstanding reconciliatory issues he needs to sort out between his party and the ANC.
“Well Mr Ramaphosa I would say comes from the UDF. Although he comes from the UDF, – on a personal basis we get on very well with the president. But at the same time I cannot forget that he comes from the UDF because when the UDF was launched here in Cape Town in 1983, – just when they were launched they issued a statement that they would welcome any organisation post-apartheid except Inkatha. We did not even apply, so I have that in the back of my mind. I recently contacted him talking about this issue.”
