IFP LEADER ON INCREASED TENSIONS WITH ANC, DANGER OF TWO

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 DURBAN 000030 SIPDIS STATE FOR AF/S RUSH MARBURG E.O. 12958: DECL: 6/4/2018 TAGS: PGOV SF PHUM PREF PREL SUBJECT: IFP LEADER ON INCREASED TENSIONS WITH ANC, DANGER OF TWO ANC'S, AND POLICE RELUCTANCE IN FIGHTING XENOPHOBIA REF: PRETORIA 1088 AND PREVIOUS; DURBAN 27 AND PREVIOUS DURBAN 00000030 001.2 OF 003 CLASSIFIED BY: ESY, Consul General, EXEC, State. REASON: 1.4 (b),(d) Summary ¶1. (C) CG met June 3 with Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) Secretary General Musa Zondi. Zondi expressed concern about rising tensions with the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN),particularly over the issue of changing Durban's street names, including one currently named for IFP Founder/President Mangosuthu Buthelezi. Combined with other recent events, he said this ''has the potential to ignite old fires,'' adding there could be ''terrible violence all over the province.'' Arguing that the current divide in the African National Congress (ANC) is partly to blame for initial inaction by police in confronting the xenophobic violence, Zondi warned that the ''divide in the ANC is dangerous for the country.'' Zondi described as ''unacceptable'' South African police reluctance to stop xenophobic violence in its initial stages. Police at some locations experiencing violence told IFP leaders that ''maybe it's time for the community to resolve'' these problems, adding that ''politicians get us into this and then throw us into the flames.'' End summary. ¶2. (C) CG met June 3 with IFP Secretary General, Reverend Musa Zondi, to hear the IFP's views on the issue of xenophobia in South Africa and rising tensions between the ANC and IFP, particularly in KwaZulu-Natal. Zondi is a member of the national assembly and one of the IFP's top three officials. The IFP is the third largest political party in South Africa and the largest, predominantly black opposition party in the country. Police ''Reluctant'' to Fight Xenophobic Violence; IFP Not to Blame ¶3. (C) Zondi said that in the initial stages of the xenophobic violence around Johannesburg (Alexandra),strong police action could have halted the attacks. He said that the police were often present at the scene of crimes but that they would not act. IFP leaders in Johannesburg had appealed to the police to intervene but found that they were ''reluctant to get involved.'' Some police had told them ''maybe it's time for the community to resolve'' these problems involving foreigners. Others said that ''politicians get us into this and then throw us into the flames.'' Police argued that even if they made arrests they often ''can't make the cases anyway.'' Zondi said police reaction was ''unacceptable.'' In a May 19 meeting between the ANC and IFP (among others) in Johannesburg, ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe agreed with Zondi that the police were ''useless.'' The police services, noted Zondi, had the ''wherewithal'' to act but were not, in fact, acting. The government decision, after an appeal by the ANC and the IFP, to bring in the army was a ''vote of no confidence'' in the police. Zondi explained that the discussion about bringing out the army was very sensitive given South Africa's history. The army's deployment had worked but, in fact, the army was not trained for crowd control or other tasks associated with the outbreak of xenophobic violence. The Defense Minister, said Zondi, was concerned about the lack of training and the likelihood that the army would be blamed for killing people in townships. ¶4. (C) Zondi responded to claims by government officials (ANC) at national level and in KZN that the IFP was specifically involved with certain incidents including in Alexandra (Johannesburg) and Umbilo (Durban). Zondi explained to us, as he had to the ANC leadership, that there was ''no denying that IFP members were involved.'' At the same time, there was also no denying that members of the ANC, Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU),and other groups were involved in the violence across South Africa. Zondi told Mantashe at the May 19th meeting that he was ''worried about finger pointing.'' There was agreement at that meeting that there needed to be a multiparty/multisectoral delegation of leaders that would not ''research'' why people were angry but would try to put a stop to what was happening. In addition, KZN officials had indicated to the IFP leadership that statements alleging IFP involvement in xenophobic violence were ''unfortunate.'' Before and after the May 19 meeting, IFP Founder/President, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi as well as Reverend Zondi, traveled to a number of DURBAN 00000030 002 OF 003 areas in Johannesburg and Durban to talk to IFP members, as well as to condemn/halt the violence. In some cases, according to Zondi, they arrived before any ANC leaders had been to the areas in question. Two ANC's: Differing Interpretations of the Violence ¶5. (C) Asked about the overall government response to the violence, Zondi explained that he was ''mystified by the whole thing.'' At Luthuli House (the ANC's party headquarters in Johannesburg),ANC leaders there told Zondi that the violence was a result of ANC members in government making the country ''ungovernable'' ahead of next year's likely takeover of government to those supporting ANC President Jacob Zuma. In the halls of parliament, government officials (also ANC) were saying the opposite - the new ANC leadership was seeking to ''shorten'' the current government's stay in office by starting this violence in the townships. Zondi believes that the lack of appropriate response by the police was in part due to the ''conflicting messages and interpretations'' coming out of the ANC-led government and the ANC party leadership at Luthuli House. ¶6. (C) Zondi told us that the ''divide in the ANC is dangerous for the country,'' and that there are ''no benefits'' for the IFP in the split. Zondi added that he wanted to see a united ANC focused on carrying out its mandate. ANC-IFP Tensions in KZN Could Lead to ''Terrible Violence'' ¶7. (C) While meeting with the ANC leadership May 19, Zondi warned that tension is rising in KZN between the two parties. He specifically pointed to the recent decision by the ANC-led municipal council in Durban to approve a number of street name changes. Among the names to be changed is the main highway leading into/out of Durban's largest (and South Africa's second largest - one million residents) township, Umlazi. The road, currently named Mangosuthu Highway after Prince Buthelezi, would be changed to the name of a late ANC activist. At the same time, provincial officials are seeking to ''force'' (in the view of the IFP) Prince Buthelezi to choose between two of his current governmental positions - member of the National Assembly and Chairman of the KZN House of Traditional Leaders - by making the Traditional position full time. At an April 27 Freedom Day event in KZN, Buthelezi and ANC Provincial Minister for Traditional Affairs, Mike Mabuyakhulu got into a public spat over the issue. On top of comments by another KZN Minister (ANC ) that the IFP was responsible for the first xenophobic incident in the province, Zondi was very concerned that old tensions that have almost been eliminated in the province could return. ¶8. (C) Zondi said that ANC President Zuma had already briefed the ANC leadership that tensions were rising in KZN and that they needed to be controlled. Zondi blamed the tensions on a young, ''rogue'' ANC leadership, particularly in Durban that was ''reveling'' in its power. That leadership was too young in some cases to remember what Buthelezi had done to support the ANC over many decades said Zondi. Zondi noted that nowhere else in South Africa was the ANC making name changes a priority, including in Pretoria and Johannesburg where ANC members are ''still driving on streets named for the worst, most notorious'' leaders of apartheid. Reverend Zondi warned that the street name changing issue ''has the potential to ignite old fires.'' ''Once they are ignited,'' he continued, ''none of us will be able to douse them.'' There will be ''terrible violence all over the province.'' Asked if the IFP was trying to prevent violence by its own members, Zondi said it was but that some members were complaining that talking to the ANC hadn't gotten the IFP anything. Some were warning him that that they were ''waiting for the (name) change, and then you'll see.'' Comment DURBAN 00000030 003.2 OF 003 ¶9. (C) Our conversation with Zondi brought out two issues. First, it was a reminder that we continue to witness a South Africa in which the largest opposition party has become, in fact, the ANC itself. The ANC leadership under Mr. Zuma at Luthuli House has taken on the ANC-led government under Mr. Mbeki on a number of issues since the ANC conference last December, creating a public divide between the ruling party and its membership in government. From KZN, this divide seems to have created a level of paralysis within government and even some non-governmental institutions that do not know which ANC to follow. This vacuum in which there is no single ANC leadership is what Reverend Zondi sees as so dangerous for South Africa. ¶10. (C) The second issue is the ongoing fragility of the ANC/IFP peace in KZN. Certainly over the past 10-15 years, major political violence between the two parties has become a thing of the past. There are flare-ups from time to time but fundamentally the battles go on in the media, at rallies and at the ballot box. But the battles of the past are not so long ago that anyone has forgotten and it is possible that even a seemingly small thing like the change of a road name could trigger a return to some level of violence. That said, the forces for peace and calm in KZN would likely overwhelm such a trigger or spark should it occur because the past violence was so bad and so all-encompassing in this province. It is simply important to remember that something like it could happen again if all parties are not careful. YOUNG