Buthelezi hits out at NFP leadership
2012-10-17 20:02
Johannesburg - The murder of an IFP member outside the Ntuzuma Magistrate's Court contradicted a NFP declaration that it deplored violence, the Inkatha Freedom Party said on Wednesday.
"This is not a case of the [NFP] leadership calling for peace while members on the ground struggle to forgo vengeance killings," IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi said in a statement.
"This is a case of the leadership calling for peace, then taking out a gun and committing murder. The message to people on the ground is clear, and it contradicts the message expressed to the media."
IFP supporter Siya Dlamini was shot dead outside the court on Monday, following the appearance of four men in connection with the shooting of an IFP supporter a little more than a week ago at Durban's KwaMashu hostels.
A National Freedom Party councillor in the eThekwini Municipality was arrested in connection with the shooting.
Buthelezi said the latest spate of political violence, which had claimed the lives of IFP, ANC, and NFP members, had brought the parties' leaderships together.
NFP secretary general Professor Nhlanhla Khubisa met KwaZulu-Natal Community Safety MEC Willies Mchunu asking that the hostels be swept for arms caches.
The murder on Monday showed a total disrespect for the police and the courts.
"It is therefore worrying to see the NFP's president [Zanele Magwaza-Msibi] spitting fire when NFP members are arrested, declaring their innocence before they have been tried in a court of law," said Buthelezi.
"It is also worrying to see the NFP's secretary general talking about his delegation doing everything possible to pursue peace, when a member of that delegation pulls a gun outside a court and shoots to kill."
Political leaders had to be held to a higher standard of integrity and should be careful about what they said.
"Let our words match our actions. So I ask again, in the wake of another murder, that the bloodshed would end and that political leaders would look at their hearts and hands to ensure that we are not the obstacles to peace," said Buthelezi.
- SAPA
