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In his article “The dangers of Zulu nationalism” (City Press, February 18 2018), Mondli Makhanya began to express his support for police brutality, but then pulled out the old whip for his routine attack on Prince Buthelezi.
I am by now inured to his stale insults, but those reading his nonsense deserve to hear the facts.
The first myth is the existence of a “KwaZulu Bantustan”. Under my leadership, KwaZulu rejected independence, derailing apartheid’s grand scheme to disown black South Africans.
Thus, KwaZulu never became a Bantustan. Obviously, if I ever had a secessionist agenda, as Makhanya pretends, I would have happily taken independence.
The next myth is that schools in KwaZulu were “filling young minds with political poison” and breeding an army of “zombies” - by teaching the subject Ubuntu-Botho as part of the school curriculum.
Makhanya expounds on the dastardly lessons we taught: respect, honesty, dedication to learning, maintaining good relationships, not littering. Political poison indeed!
This was Inkatha ideology, Makhanya cries. Yet Inkatha was founded on the principles of the 1912 liberation movement. And what is so objectionable about the “ideology” of equipping youth with a moral compass?
We very effectively countered problems like drug addiction and teenage pregnancies, which are bedevilling our youth today.
For years, young people were trained at Emandleni-Matleng in such vocational skills as bricklaying, firefighting, animal husbandry and first aid. We taught self-help and self-reliance. If the same focus was placed on skills development and youth empowerment today, we would have a fighting chance against unemployment.
Makhanya’s parting myth is “the demise of Inkatha in the democratic era”. Inkatha became the IFP. It won more than 2 million votes in 1994, and still serves in the National Assembly and National Council of Provinces, in provincial legislatures and municipalities.
The “ideology” of Inkatha is needed now more than ever.
Mangosuthu Buthelezi
President, Inkatha Freedom Party
