Buthelezi warns of violence

Published Jul 7, 2016

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Durban - Continuing violent attacks on IFP members in the lead-up to the local government elections could lead to turmoil, party leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi warned on Wednesday.

He said there would be “serious consequences” for the upcoming municipal elections and the country should his party members “retaliate” to incitement to violence after the disqualification of the NFP from the August 3 elections.

The veteran politician said that his party had reported assaults on its members and accusations levelled against it by some NFP leaders, who partly blamed the IFP for their plight.

“I am deeply disturbed by these developments for I remember well how the political violence of the Eighties and early Nineties started. It began with tit-for-tat actions, irresponsible allegations and propaganda,” Buthelezi told journalists at a media briefing in Durban.

His remarks come after a Nongoma store was vandalised yesterday because, it was claimed, the owner was a known IFP supporter.

Protesters also blockaded the R66 road, between Ulundi and Vryheid, with burning tyres, and protested on the road that joins the main one from Buthelezi’s Mahlabathini home. “It is evident that they (the NFP) feel I am somehow to blame for their difficulties,” he said.

He said when attacked, adrenalin kicked in and IFP members would not wait for instructions from him, but would seek to defend themselves.

Buthelezi also showed the media a report from the Daily News’s sister paper, Isolezwe, which quoted NFP members blaming Buthelezi for their failure to win their application at the Electoral Court to participate in the elections after the IFP made a submission as a friend of the court.

He showed the media a transcript of a Facebook conversation allegedly by NFP members who were angered by the IFP’s role as “a friend of the Electoral Court”.

In the conversation, one participant stated: “We shall have bi elections (sic) soon… because people will die.”

Buthelezi said: “The suggestion is that our members will be targeted for assassination.” Assault cases have already been reported by IFP members in Nongoma, Bergville and uMtshezi, and an official complaint was to be made with the IEC.

Buthelezi also complained about a statement made by NFP youth leader, Busisiwe Tshabalala, claiming NFP “senior leaders” had been bribed by his party not to pay the deposit with the elections body.

Buthelezi referred to a statement ascribed to NFP spokesman, Sabelo Sigudu, warning about violence should the Electoral Court uphold their disqualification.

“It is not clear to whom this warning was directed,” Buthelezi said.

He said his party was taking the matter to the IEC and the police for investigation.

He said he was concerned at what was happening.

“Once there is tit-for-tat action, we will have something that we will not stop.”

The NFP’s acting chairman, Bheki Gumbi, said they discouraged their members from resorting to violence to express their anger.

“Whether they are angry, they must not incite violence. We are a party for peace,” Gumbi said.

He took a swipe at the IFP for publicly sympathising with their disqualification only to argue against it in the court.

“The president of the IFP speaks in public sympathising with us,” he said.

Gumbi denied they were blaming the IFP for their failure to comply with IEC and also denied a store was burnt in Nongoma on Wednesday.

KZN provincial electoral officer, Mawethu Mosery, said no official complaint had been lodged by the NFP except for a call from one of their leaders.

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