IN PICS | IFP aims to grow stronger in national politics, speaks against factions

IFP president Velenkosi Hlabisa says the party wants to grow beyond its traditional stronghold of KwaZulu-Natal.

“We want the IFP to make a national footprint, not to be classified as a KwaZulu-Natal regional party,” he said at the party's 50th birthday celebrations at Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi stadium in Ulundi on Sunday.

He lauded the late party leader for his contribution to the organisation and the nation.

“The journey of the IFP over the past 50 years has been remarkable. A journey of good times, difficult times and now good times again. Ours has been a story of resilience, service and integrity.”

Hlabisa said from the beginning, the IFP embraced a democratic South Africa built not on revenge but on reconciliation.

He said it was in Lusaka in 1974 where Buthelezi received advice from Zambia's president Kenneth Kaunda to create a “cohesive force”.

“Kaunda encouraged Buthelezi to establish a membership-based organisation to reignite political mobilisation after the apartheid regime had banned other movements like the ANC and PAC and the fight against the apartheid regime had no centre,” he said, adding that Buthelezi also sought advice from the ANC's leader in exile, Oliver Tambo, who agreed.

Hlabisa said the IFP did not just fill a political gap but became a formidable voice for change

“Within a few years, Inkatha boasted more than a million card-carrying members. We became home to the disenfranchised masses, becoming the largest black movement in South Africa.”

He said from cabinet to local municipal councils, the IFP has offered unique leadership in the past five decades.

“As we celebrate this milestone [in] human rights month, we stand ready for the national dialogue to deal with all issues that were left outstanding at Codesa [multiparty negotiations called the Convention for a Democratic South Africa during the transition to the democratic era]. Today our leadership is more needed than before, as we stand again at the crossroads, facing economic hardship and social injustice.”

Touching on the Ithala Bank saga, Hlabisa said they are doing everything to make sure it opens its doors again and that people who contributed to Ithala's crumbling would be hauled over the coals.

He also said they will continue to fight for the Ingonyama Trust — which manages KZN communal land under the trusteeship of the Zulu king — as “the only example of land in the hands of the black majority”.

KZN premier Thami Ntuli said Buthelezi was an astute leader. “Buthelezi was a leader par excellence and a very unique leader who is unmatched,” he said.

Speaking on behalf of the Buthelezi family, inkhosi Zuzifa Buthelezi called on party members to end factions.

He said factions are dangerous and they have a potential to end parties.

“I call on the party leadership to make sure that they end factions within the organisation,” he said, adding that factions are a disease in every party.

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