ANC slams Buthelezi

2005-08-07 08:58

Johannesburg - Statements made by IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi at a KwaZulu-Natal rally have led to a heated response from the ruling party.

Addressing the rally at the Luthuli sports grounds on Saturday, Buthelezi discussed upcoming local government elections, saying they would either see KwaZulu-Natal emerge as a free, viable and self-confident province, or a "mere provincial extension of a one-party state".

Referring to the ANC's governing of the province, he said that instead of real delivery, the people of the province had been offered "a series of glitzy imbizos at which they get to hear how fortunate they are to have an ANC government".

In what the ruling party has called a "swipe" by the IFP leader, Buthelezi said rumours that his party planned to stop child grants to their constituency were lies used by the ANC and were not true.

"It never was our policy to stop child grants, nor is it our policy now. The children are entitled to these grants in terms of the constitution and no party has a right to interfere with their right to receive it."

Buthelezi did admit that national chairman Ziba Jiyane had spoken of canceling the child grants but was "out of order".

KwaZulu-Natal ANC spokesperson Mtholephi Mthimkhulu responded by saying: "He (Buthelezi) insinuated that this was just ANC propaganda, while in his same speech he conceded that (Jiyane) did in fact announce that his party was against the grants for children and would abolish them given the opportunity.

Jiyane was suspended last week after publicly criticising the party's leadership for dictatorial practices.

"The ANC is not surprised by this contradictory scathing attack from the leader of an embattled party. His further spurious criticism of government izimbizo - which are very popular amongst ordinary people in the province - is a clear sign of desperation from a politician that is politically bankrupt," said Mthimkhulu.

Appealing to his supporters, Buthelezi said it was "vital that the power of the ANC is slashed if we are to halt the slide to a one-party state and provide a better alternative."

Buthelezi told his supporters they should not see local government elections as a mid-term test of governments popularity.

"Local government is, I believe, the fastest and most effective vehicle of service delivery to the rural poor," he said.

He said the persistence of problems such as corruption in government, the HIV/Aids pandemic and unemployment, "suggests fundamental and equally-persistent flaws in this country's public policy since 1994."

KwaZulu-Natal is said to have the highest prevalence of HIV/Aids in South Africa with a rising figure of 37.5%.

As Buthelezi tried to garner support for an intensive local government campaign, Sunday newspapers reported that he had ordered the shredding of an internal party discussion document drafted by veteran IFP MP Gavin Woods concluding that the party was a "dying political force" hamstrung by a lack of fresh leadership and ideas.

The document says that unless the IFP transforms itself into an effective alternative to the ANC, with an infusion of new thinking and new minds, rot within the party would continue, reported the Sunday Times.

- SAPA