Durban — ActionSA leader in KwaZulu-Natal, Zwakele Mncwango, wants eThekwini Municipality to be renamed after the late IFP leader, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi.
Mncwango said he would soon be consulting the Buthelezi family and would then table a proposal at a council meeting.
This was despite both the IFP and ANC suspecting that Mncwango’s proposal was a public relations stance and electioneering tactic.
“eThekwini is the biggest and only metro in KwaZulu-Natal and if you look at his (Buthelezi’s) role in building the city, it is significant,” said Mncwango.
He made the surprise proposal at the provincial memorial service for Buthelezi which was organised by the IFP in Durban last month.
Mncwango said he was inspired by how politicians from all political parties who attended Buthelezi’s memorial service at KwaPhindangene Palace outside Ulundi ahead of the funeral, had praised the statesman.
He said this made him realise that, after Nelson Mandela, Buthelezi was the second icon.
“When people migrated to Durban during apartheid they did not have shelters as banks would not grant black people loans to build or buy houses. Townships were established by Buthelezi introducing Ithala Bank, which loaned money to help people own properties,” Mncwango said.
He said when black people were struggling to access higher education, Buthelezi criss-crossed the world looking for funding to build Mangosuthu University of Technology in uMlazi.
“Our proposal is not political, but we are looking at the role he played in the country,” Mncwango added.
He said people would always hold different views about Buthelezi’s history and the role he allegedly played during the political violence between the ANC and IFP in the late 1980s and early 90s.
He said he was waiting to consult the Buthelezi family and, following their agreement, would recommend that the council consult with residents of eThekwini.
However, it seems Mncwango still has a lot to do to convince the IFP and ANC to support his idea.
The IFP in the eThekwini region expressed doubts over Mncwango’s intentions. Regional leader Mdu Nkosi said Mncwango would have to prove his genuineness by taking the proposal to the Buthelezi family.
“You know how politicians behave when they see people. If you are invited to an event as a politician, you will look for anything that will make you popular with people,” said Nkosi.
Mncwango’s proposal has been rejected by the ANC in the province.
The IFP and ANC were expected to engage in reconciliation talks which Buthelezi had requested prior to his death.
Among the IFP’s conditions for reconciliation talks, which the ANC also rejected, was that a statue of Buthelezi be erected outside the provincial legislature building, along with that of late King Goodwill Zwelithini. It would replace the statue of Queen Victoria.
The IFP also wanted the ANC to publicly denounce those who accused Buthelezi of perpetrating the killings during apartheid, or admit that ANC leaders, such as Mandela and Oliver Thambo, were also guilty of having killed IFP supporters.
Nkosi said he was not aware of any progress in the matter of the reconciliation talks.
ANC provincial spokesperson Mafika Mndebele said he was not aware of any preparation for reconciliation talks between the IFP and the ANC, because “the ANC was busy these days”.
“We have not approached the IFP and they have not approached us, because our election calendar is quite busy for now,” said Mndebele.
He said the ANC was campaigning hard so that it wouldn’t need any opposition parties to co-govern the province.
Mndebele said his party would not entertain Mncwango’s “populist proposal, which is nothing else but a poor public relations stance aimed at electioneering”.
“We have no time for Zwakele (as) we do not believe that he is a significant player in politics,” said Mndebele.
Sunday Tribune