IFP has 'no mission, no vision'

2005-08-08 09:02

Jan-Jan Joubert

Cape Town - The IFP has no discernable vision, mission or philosophical base, no clear national ambitions or direction, no articulated ideological basis and offers little in the way of current, vibrant original and relevant policies, according to an internal discussion document prepared by one of the party's most respected MPs, Gavin Woods.

Woods drew up the highly critical document at the request of the parliamentary caucus after a discussion in October last year. Since its completion, it has been discussed in caucus twice, and has since gained renewed prominence in the wake of Ziba Jiyane's suspension from the party after he warned against the dangers of dictatorial leadership.

According to IFP insiders, at the first caucus discussion, Woods read out the 11-page paper in full and caucus members were generally positive about its frank nature. IFP president Mangosuthu Buthelezi, who is indirectly criticised in the report, was absent from that meeting but raised it at a meeting of the party's national council, which Woods did not attend.

At a subsequent caucus meeting where both were present, Buthelezi read from a prepared statement attacking "the author of the document" without naming Woods. All the numbered copies were ordered "shredded" but some survived.

In the document, the IFP is warned that it must treat Buthelezi as "the leader of a political party and not the political party itself", which, according to several MPs, made him livid.

Woods pinpoints 1987 as the seminal year when the IFP started losing ground as a political force. Before 1987, Woods contends, the party had a strong, unambiguous national identity.

Since then, according to the document, the party has lost its identity. It lists 10 reasons, among which are its perceived lack of initiative to end violence between itself and the ANC/ UDF, its inability to counter propaganda, its "debilitating anger" towards ANC attitudes, its public show of belligerence, its negative relations with the media and its distraction from national developments.

'Defensive and internalised

The IFP, the document claims, became prone to "a persecution- and conspiracy-dominated analysis". It became "increasingly reactionary, defensive and internalised" in its thinking and moved from broad strategy approaches to issue-based tactics.

Among other things, Woods further claims the party's weakening secondary level of leadership, its placement of ineffective individuals in crucial positions and its manipulation by individuals who positioned themselves in relation to Buthelezi hurt the IFP.

Since 1994, the confusion regarding its sharing of government with the ANC and its alliance with the DA, as well as its underperformance in KZN government cost the party dearly.

Currently, the document states, the party has no formalised political programmes, very few if any community programmes and makes virtually no mention of human rights issues. Its highest meetings are "mostly lengthy self-involved talk sessions which do not take the party forward".

Weak election results (rural KZN now constitutes 88% of its support base) are blamed on outdated policies and principles that have become dormant through non-adherence.

To stop the rot, Woods implores the IFP to, among other things, become more positive, allocate funds more strategically, democratise the party and put its policies into practice.

He proposes clear policies based on a market economy with strong government participation, private enterprise regulated to protect workers, consumers and small enterprise, an extensive social security network and a party, which has "caring" as its main motivation.

- Beeld