Word: buthelezi
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...were a question of conflict between Mangosuthu Buthelezi's Inkatha ((movement)) and the A.N.C., we would have solved this matter long ago. But my problem is the government, because what is happening in Natal is no longer a clash between the A.N.C. and Inkatha. The government has taken advantage of the clash between the two organizations to crush the A.N.C. and eliminate its membership in Natal. I have asked De Klerk the simple question, Why has the government failed to suppress that violence for more than 4 1/2 years, and when almost 4,000 people have died? And De Klerk...
...Buthelezi's biggest mistake was working with South Africa's whites while other black leaders went to prison or into exile, he never committed the bigger sin that the A.N.C. long feared: cutting a separate deal with whites in exchange for becoming the country's first black President. Buthelezi always insisted that Mandela be freed as a precondition to his joining in negotiations on South Africa's future...
...Inkatha's latest rampages in Natal make a mockery of Buthelezi's desire to be the prince of peace. There is no evidence that Buthelezi personally ordered the attacks, and he has strongly condemned the slaughter. Inkatha leaders claim that the upsurge in violence followed A.N.C. provocations, and in fact the bloodshed erupted in 1987 largely because of the A.N.C.'s determination to wipe out Buthelezi's influence...
What role will Buthelezi now play? He certainly intends to be one of the leaders who deliberate the country's future. "I am at the center stage, where I have always been," he said in an interview. "I have always believed that the problems of South Africa would be resolved through peaceful means. What have I to regret...
Although many in the A.N.C. seem to accept that Inkatha has a right to sit at the negotiating table, it remains fashionable to dismiss Buthelezi as a political lightweight. After last week's press conference, attended by a mere dozen journalists, Buthelezi groused that the media refuse to take him seriously. There is little doubt that Mandela's words will continue to be those that are most closely scrutinized inside and outside the country. But the architects of any future political settlement will ignore the Zulu prince only at South Africa's peril...