IFP's Buthelezi warns students against ANC's economic stance

The ANC is so reliant on votes from Cosatu and the SACP that its leadership is afraid to commit to any clear economic policies‚ IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi told students on Wednesday.

Rallying support for the IFP’s student wing‚ South African Democratic Students Movement (Sadesmo)‚ ahead of the Student Representative Council election‚ 89-year old Buthelezi told Mangosuthu University of Technology students that the ANC did not embrace a free market economy or have any sound economic policies in place.

"That's a problem in our country and in the end it affects you. It affects the likelihood of a free higher education. It affects your chances of getting a good job‚ of making money to help your family and of eventually being able to afford a car and a house‚" he said.

Similarly‚ ANC-aligned South African Students Congress (Sasco) supported a philosophy of destroying capitalism and ushering in a socialist society‚ Buthelezi explained.

"That is Sasco's stated vision. The problem is that socialism is highly destructive to a nation's economy and a people's well-being‚" he said.

Meanwhile IFP youth brigade chairperson and MP Mkhule Hlegwa warned that the institution's name will always remain. "Anyone who thinks the name of this institute will change is day dreaming‚ it will be Mangosuthu today and in 20 years time."

He went on to tell students to "save yourself‚ save your future”.

"Do not vote for the people who promised free education in 1994 and did not deliver‚" he said.

Students will vote for the new SRC on Thursday.