Several traditional Amabutho warriors regiments and Inkatha Freedom Party supporters have paid tributes to the late Zulu Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

His remains were taken from the local mortuary and sent to his family household ahead of Sunday’s state funeral. Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the erstwhile anti-apartheid activist, Zulu Prime Minister and historic leader of Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) passed away on Saturday 9 September aged 95.

“I am deeply saddened to announce the passing of Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi… Traditional Prime Minister to the Zulu Monarch and Nation, and the Founder and President Emeritus of the Inkatha Freedom Party,” Predident Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement.

“Buthelezi has been an outstanding leader in the political and cultural life of our nation, including the ebbs and flows of our liberation struggle, the transition which secured our freedom in 1994 and our democratic dispensation,” Ramaphosa said.

Details of Buthelezi’s funeral, which would traditionally happen on a weekend, have not been announced.

“He quietly and painlessly stepped into eternity in the early hours of the morning” Buthelezi’s family said in a statement.

“It will be hard for me to sleep at night in the next coming days” the Zulu monarch, Misuzulu Zulu, said during a televised speech at the annual “reed dance” ceremony in KwaZulu-Natal province.

“As you all know we worked together a lot until the very end, we got along well, I respected him,” the king said.

Buthelezi, was discharged last week from hospital after a prolonged stay.

Born of royal blood on August 27, 1928, Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi was to some the embodiment of the Zulu spirit: proud and feisty. To others, he bordered on a warlord.

For years he was defined by his bitter rivalry with South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC), a party that was his political home until he broke away to form IFP in 1975.

He led the party from its inception, until the age of 90.

Former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo delivers the first Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi Annual Lecture at the International Convention Centre in Durban on Human Rights Day on Tuesday.

Obasanjo says Buthelezi displayed the qualities of being a leader from a young age.

“Even at a young age, Prince Buthelezi displayed bravery, which many people spend their whole lives searching for. Indeed it can only be an art of bravery and a common commitment to jeopardise your own future to take such a strong moral stand and in that act of bravery Prince Buthelezi inspired others to follow in his footsteps.”

Buthelezi, he says, was a pivotal figure in South African history, and he urged the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the African National Congress (ANC) to collaborate for the benefit of the South African people.

Thousands of people have gathered for the inaugural Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi Annual Lecture at Durban’s ICC on Tuesday. Among the dignitaries are AmaZulu King Misuzulu KaZwelithini and former ANC secretary general, Ace Magashule. The day coincides with the founding of the IFP in 1975.

“Selfless leader”

The former Nigerian President describes Prince Mangosuthu as a selfless leader. Obasanjo says Buthelezi’s involvement in the struggle, cost him his education.

“Together with his comrades in the ANCYL they were not disheartened by the 1948 electoral victory of the National Party and the implementation of the system of apartheid they saw this as the most opportune time to agitate, mobilise and organise under the clarion call of freedom in our lifetime.”

Earlier, IFP president, Velenkosini Hlabisa said Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi has served South Africans for over seventy years.

“The King of AmaZulu nation we are grateful to his majesty the King, he is with us to honour this historic day where the giant of Africa Dr Olusegun Obasanjo will share his knowledge of the great son of Africa Umntwana wakwa Phindangene. He is a man of the utmost integrity, who has dedicated more than 7 decades of his life to the service of the people of South Africa.”

Source: https://www.sabcnews.com/

Durban – A Patriotic Alliance (PA) delegation led by the party’s deputy president, Kenny Kunene, met and received blessings from IFP Emeritus President Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi and the IFP top leadership in Ulundi, KwaZulu-Natal, on Monday.

Speaking to the Daily News, Kunene said the PA requested the meeting to formally introduce themselves to Buthelezi in his capacity as the traditional prime minister to the Zulu monarch and nation.

“We will be campaigning and contesting elections in KwaZulu-Natal and we thought as a gesture of respect and courtesy, we should formally come to introduce ourselves to you and to let you know that we will be active in an area where citizens are predominantly your subjects.”

Kunene added that the PA’s mission “is to address pressing challenges facing millions of South Africans such as poverty, unemployment, crime and corruption, a mission we know you share”.

Kunene thanked Buthelezi and the IFP leadership for agreeing to meet the leadership of the Patriotic Alliance. Kunene said these challenges required the co-operation of political parties. At the meeting, Kunene also introduced PA member and former Fees Must Fall activist Bonginkosi Khanyile as the PA’s KwaZulu-Natal premier candidate for the 2024 elections.

Buthelezi said: “I appreciate your expression of your intentions; that the Patriotic Alliance intends campaigning in KwaZulu-Natal. I am sure you know that the IFP has always supported multi-party democracy and we welcome many voices representing our diverse people. If your intention is to serve and to meet needs and to create better local governance, I welcome you with open arms.”

He added: “I would like to welcome you to this meeting and thank you for requesting the opportunity to come and see me, as the traditional prime minister to the Zulu monarch and nation. I appreciate your concern for protocol, and the respect you are showing towards the Zulu royal family and the Zulu nation.

“I must also thank you for accepting to meet with me together with the national executive committee of the IFP, the party that I founded and which I still serve as president emeritus. It is always beneficial for political leaders to exchange ideas and I felt that we should not miss this opportunity to discuss, even as politicians, how we might further what is a shared fight against the ills of our country.

Buthelezi said the meeting came at a pivotal time in the history of the Zulu nation, “for we are preparing for what has been termed the coronation of His Majesty King Misuzulu kaZwelithini”.

“In truth, this is not a coronation in the Western sense of the word, for His Majesty the King is already de facto and de jure on the throne. He has been recognised by the president and his position has been gazetted. He has undergone all rituals and fulfilled all traditions. What remains now is for the president of the republic to hand over the certificate of appointment. That will, as you know, take place on 29 October.”

Buthelezi added that this was a very busy time for the royal family and for those engaged in the arrangements for the ceremony.

“My role as traditional prime minister, a role that I have fulfilled now under three kings, has naturally positioned me as a champion of our traditional institutions, including the institution of traditional leadership. I have in fact served as Inkosi of the Buthelezi Clan for some 70 years.

“I understand and have a strong belief in the role that traditional leaders must play in the good governance of our people. I also believe strongly in the necessity of empowering people towards self-help and self-reliance, which in part is why I piloted the Ingonyama Trust Act through the KwaZulu Legislative Assembly in 1994, placing the land of the Zulu Kingdom into a trust, to remain as communal land administered by amakhosi.

“Now, these matters, related to my role as traditional prime minister, of course have implications in the political sphere. The issue of land reform, the issue of local governance, rural development, protecting the vulnerable – all these are matters that we as politicians deal with every day,” he said.

“This, too, is why I felt that it would be most beneficial for us to meet not only as a gesture of paying respect, but as leaders in our nation who face a common challenge; to meet the needs of our people. Particularly because that is done first and foremost at local level. Local government and even provincial government deals more closely with our people than national government. There is closer interaction.”

Buthelezi said the country “desperately needs leaders who are able and willing to genuinely serve”.

“I welcome a frank and open conversation on this and any other matter you wish to discuss. Thank you again for coming to see me.”

Source: Daily News

JOHANNESBURG – KwaZulu-Natal premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube has thanked Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi for his invaluable contribution to the province, parliament, and to the Zulu monarchy.

This as Buthelezi celebrates his 94th birthday on Saturday. The Premier joined the ANC and the IFP in wishing Buthelezi well. She says the IFP founder is among the architects of our democracy and has been the voice of reason during a tumultuous period for the Zulu royal family.

Dube-Ncube’s spokesperson Ndabezinhle Sibiya:

“Inkosi Buthelezi is not only an eminent statesman, but he has served our democracy as a minister with great distinction and humility and a living legend.”

Source: Eyewitness News

Those who love him will do so until their last drop of blood and those who hate him do so with devastating malice. To many he is known and seen as an unashamedly Zulu traditionalist; others see him as an astute politician whose capabilities are boundless.

And there are those who believe he sold out in the struggle and should not be regarded as a freedom fighter but a sellout. Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi was a member of the ANC Youth League before the formation of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP).

He often openly says the formation of the IFP was due to the blessings of the late ANC president Oliver Tambo. This has not been disputed by anyone in the ANC. Buthelezi’s politics is very complex. Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi wrote in Business Day on May 22 2009: “Despite the acrimony between the ANC and Buthelezi, Nelson Mandela maintained a warm relation[ship] with Shenge [Buthelezi] from his Robben Island jail cell.

“Add to this confusing picture of the man the fact that he consistently called for Mandela to be released from jail and you begin to realise just how complex a political figure Shenge is.”

The deadly war between the IFP and ANC tilted the scales against Buthelezi and the IFP – the argument was often centred on whether he should be regarded as a freedom fighter or a sell-out. Many said he was a sellout and traditionalist whose politics was so primitive it relied on Zulu nationalism, based on tribalism. They said he was obsessed by the secessionism of the Zulu kingdom.

In the post-apartheid era Buthelezi has emerged as a leader whose politics evoke patriotism and he provided opposition that was patriotic.

But he has said often that he advocates non-violence and was against the sanctions which would have impoverished the already poor black majority. The ANC had campaigned for the apartheid state to be isolated economically through sanctions. However, in the democratic era the ANC government was against the sanctions imposed by the US and the UK in Zimbabwe.

Many ANC supporters propagated an anti-Shenge tirade and labelled him an apartheid apologist, a sell-out and murderer who should serve jail time for the many people who died in the people’s war between the ANC and IFP.

Shenge’s political longevity from apartheid to the democratic dispensation has never decreased his image as a politician – let alone the fading fortunes of his party. In the post-apartheid era Buthelezi has emerged as a leader whose politics evoke patriotism and he provided opposition that was patriotic.

His politics has always been forthright. He is known as the man who speaks the truth, a man of letters, a writer, an elder and international statesman. Very knowledgeable about the governance and administrative issues of state, he knows when to pounce.

At times when the ruling party shied away from its responsibility, Buthelezi would not shy away, voicing his disgust and rebuking those engaged in misdeeds. He would always remind the ANC of its 1994 pre-election promises. In 2007 former president Thabo Mbeki thanked the IFP leader for his patriotic engagements that brought sanity in Parliament without looking for easy victories.

Although his struggle credentials are always questioned, in the post-apartheid era he has remained a man of truth, he has spoken about corruption, and the degenerating societal fabric through acts of rape and poverty. He has often warned the ANC that unless it fights poverty, the country will run the risk of the masses being beggars who will remain indebted to the government without learning to fend for themselves.

He has urged the government to ponder over the social grants and high level of unemployment that lends itself to the current state of dependency, which could lead to a revolution by the masses against the state.

It is politically intriguing that as much as Shenge has people who dislike him and even wish that he should shed his mortal coil (as the cantankerous editor of this paper wishes), many like him and admire his truth and politics but cannot come out in the open because of fear of victimisation and rejection by the ANC and the public because of the stigma of black-on-black violence.

Why am I writing this you may ask? Am I singing the praises of the man?

The answer is no! I am writing this because in isiZulu we say: Umuntu ubongwa esaphila (loosely translated to we must acknowledge people while they are still alive).

Buthelezi is a formidable political figure whose politics are steeped in traditional perspective and political acumen.

Therefore, he cannot be ignored. Matshiqi concluded that the South African history pre- and post-democracy cannot be complete without Buthelezi.

As he celebrates his 90th birthday tomorrow, it’s time for those who love him to raise a glass and say an Ode to the people’s prince.

As it is often said: sing my praises while I am still alive so that I can hear them because when I am dead, I will not care anyway.

Long Live.

Authored by: Muntonezwi Khanyile