Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08DURBAN30
2008-06-04 16:51:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Consulate Durban
Cable title:  

IFP LEADER ON INCREASED TENSIONS WITH ANC, DANGER OF TWO

Tags:  PGOV SF PHUM PREF PREL 
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RUEHDU/AMCONSUL DURBAN 0670
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



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