IFP links ANC to poll violence
2004-04-05 23:28
Ulundi - "The ANC is the common denominator when it comes to political violence in South Africa. They fight not only with the IFP, but with other
parties as well," says the IFP's Blessed Gwala.
He was speaking on Monday after an urgent meeting between delegations of the African National Congress and Inkatha Freedom Party in KwaZulu-Natal.
Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota suggested the meeting to explain why he and deputy justice minister Cheryl Gilwald would be in Ulundi during the elections.
Lekota said President Thabo Mbeki had deployed them and other members of the cabinet in KwaZulu-Natal to make sure the elections took place without any incidents of violence or intimidation.
The Ulundi region is an IFP stronghold and the ANC earlier indicated it would be going there to prove there were no "no-go" areas in South Africa.
Safety and Security Minister Charles Nqakula campaigned in the town last weekend and put up ANC posters.
Wanted an IFP official in the delegation
The IFP later accused him and his assistants of pulling down IFP posters, but the ANC denied this.
Gwala accused the ANC on Monday of creating "unnecessary tension" in the area.
He said the ANC members in Ulundi weren't the problem, but "ANC people from outside, who seem to want to intervene".
At the meeting on Monday, the IFP expressed its dissatisfaction with the absence of an IFP official in the ministerial delegation.
Gwala said Lekota explained their visit was a government initiative and had nothing to do with politics.
"But if it is a government visit, why is nobody of the IFP here?"
Lekota said IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi was also part of the delegation but he was deployed in another part of the province.
Gwala maintained that the IFP did not believe in violence.
"The IFP is angry that Ulundi is called a "no-go area".
Shot dead while watching TV
He said political tension in KwaZulu-Natal "isn't as high", but that an IFP leader who was shot dead in Esikhawini near Richard's Bay "was the first victim in the province since the date of the elections was announced".
Zabazendoda Vincent Makhoba, 33, an IFP treasurer in the Mhlathuze region, was shot dead on Thursday night while watching television with his family.
Tempers flared at his funeral on Sunday when IFP supporters threatened to get revenge on his murderers, whom they believed to be ANC supporters.
Gwala said: "The case is now with the police. People should give information to the police and not take the law into their own hands."