Obituary: Washington Okumu, professor who saved SA from war in 1994

Washington Okumu, who has died in Kenya at the age of 80, saved South Africa from a possible bloodbath when he persuaded IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi, against all odds, to take part in the democratic elections in 1994. Buthelezi was holding out for a federal form of government in the new South Africa in which regions such as KwaZulu-Natal, where he was confident of a majority, would be pretty much self-governing.