Prince Buthelezi, or as many others call him - uMmntwana wakwa Phindangenee – has been without question one of the most polarising political figures South Africa has ever produced.
JOHANNESBURG - As the country remembers the founder and long-standing leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, his role in South Africa’s journey towards democracy remains shrouded in controversy.He founded the Inkatha Freedom Party at the behest of long-serving African National Congress President Oliver Tambo, but it soon became a thorn in the side of the then liberation movement.
Buthelezi’s political career spans five decades and he has seen South Africa’s transition from Apartheid into a democratic state.This, he said, was at the behest of the ANC’s longest serving president Oliver Tambo, who was in exile in Lusaka, Zambia after liberation movements had been banned from the country.
Buthelezi himself saw this as a low-level civil war. However, until his last breath, he failed to take responsibility for the killings by IFP-aligned militias across several townships. After pulling out of the talks towards the 1994 breakthrough, and repeated threats to boycott the elections, Buthelezi finally capitulated at the last minute.
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