- Title
- New Nation - Govt-Inkatha clash looms
- Creator
- New Nation - SA's Biggest Independent Weekly
- Subject
- New Nation - SA's Biggest Independent Weekly
- Date Issued
- Dec 1992
- Date
- Dec 1992
- Type
- text
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/10962/112906
- Identifier
- vital:33675
- Description
- clash is looming between the National Party (NP) government and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) following this week's unveiling by kwaZulu chief minister, Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi of a constitutional blueprint which envisages a kwaZulu/- Natal state. Following the unveiling of the document this week, state president FW de Klerk, warned that kwaZulu’s constitutional initiatives had the potential of escalating violence and of bringing the kwaZulu government into "direct confrontation" with Pretoria. An urgent meeting between De Klerk and Buthelezi is expected within the week. And sources in the government have indicated that senior NP leaders were disillusioned with the IFP and were looking for the "best way to ditch Chief Buthelezi". The sources said that although the NP recognised that Buthelezi was a factor in finding a solution to South Africa's political conflict, the party was disillusioned with the IFP and felt that the government had been misled into believing that the organisation commanded the support it claimed. The NP leadership, as well as their strategists, now believed that the De Klerk government should rather direct all its energy towards striking a deal with the ANC - provided such a deal secured a future for whites. The ANC's newly adopted "Strategic Perspective" document - which envisages powersharing between the ANC and the Nationalists from the transition phase up to the postapartheid era - is viewed as a positive signal which justifies the need for closer ties between the Nats and the ANC. There is also concern within the NP that Buthelezi's latest moves - of steering a conference of right wing parties and this week's constitutional proposals - are "driving" whites away from NP to the Conservative Party (CP). The CP is one of the parties KwaZulu chief minister, Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi that has welcomed kwaZulu's constitutional blueprint and said it was in line with the CP’s vision of the "self-determination of nations in a commonwealth of independent states”. Meanwhile, Democratic Party (DP) Member of Parliament for Umhlanga, Kobus jordaan, who was among those involved in the kwaZulu/Natal Indaba plan in the mid-1980s, said there was no comparison between that initiative and this week's constitutional proposals. "The Buthelezi that was involved in the kwaZulu/Natal Indaba, is not the same Buthelezi that we have today," said Jordaan. "He had a national approach, and never spoke about secession. This proposal smacks of secession ," added Jordaan. Scholars of Natal politics have argued that Buthelezi’s undertaking to test his proposals of a kwaZulu/Natal state in a referendum were logisti- cally impossible. The calling of a referendum was also described as "legally impossible", especially now that De Klerk has poured cold water on the initiative. KwaZulu would have no powers to call a referendum for people who live in Natal. Records of the kwaZulu interior department state that only 770 000 people - in a population of 3- million - in the homeland had registered for the 1988 elections. It is suggested that people in the province would either refuse to go to a referendum or Buthelezi would simply lose it. They have pointed out that the Inkatha leader might be over estimating his support. Economists said Natal alone could not be economically viable. The region comprises of about 25 percent of South Africa's population, but it was responsible for only 16 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP)
- Format
- 32 pages
- Format
- Publisher
- New Nation - SA's Biggest Independent Weekly
- Language
- English
- Rights
- New Nation - SA's Biggest Independent Weekly
- Rights
- No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior permission from the publisher
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | SOURCE1 | New National - 4-10 December 1992.pdf | 21 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |