SOUTH AFRICA: INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY ENDS BOYCOTT

Описание: (5 Mar 1995) English/Nat

The mainly Zulu Inkatha Freedom Party, voted today (Sunday) to end its 13-day boycott of the South African Parliament and resume duties in the National Unity government.

At a conference in Ulundi attended by 3-thousand Inkatha delegates their leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi demanded that President Nelson Mandela bring in international mediators to resolve the dispute over regional autonomy.

Inkatha's 48 MPs walked out of the 500-seat Parliament last month and accused the government of backing out of promises for international mediation on self rule for the Kwazulu-Natal province, home for 8 (m) million Zulus.

The boycott increased fears of a breakup of the government of National Unity which includes the African National Congress (A-N-C), Inkatha and the National Party.

The Inkatha conference gave the government one month to honour its promises on self- rule or they'll withdraw from the Constitutional Assembly - the body set up to write the new constitution for South Africa.

SOUNDBITE:
If measures to implement international mediation are not taken within a month, IFP members of the constitutional assembly shall suspend participation in the constitution assembly.
SUPER CAPTION: Sue Felgate, IFP Delegate.

The conference also announced its determination to oppose what it sees as interference by the national assembly in its regional affairs.

SOUNDBITE:
Conference demands that the province of Kwazulu-Natal resists and rejects central government interference in the affairs of the province and of its people.
SUPER CAPTION: Sue Felgate, IFP Delegate.

At a press conference after the conference Mangosuthu Buthelezi - the party leader - spoke of his satisfaction at receiving support from the conference for his threat to withdraw from the Constitutional Assembly.

SOUNDBITE:
I feel that I have a mandate now, that if there is no evidence in the Constitutional Assembly that they intend accommodating inputs of minority parties, then I have a right to walk out with the delegation and therefore they can write their own constitution, just as they did with the present interim constitution.
SUPER CAPTION: Mangosuthu Buthelezi, IFP Leader.

In reference to his ongoing differences with his cousin, the king of the Zulus, King Goodwill, Buthelezi accepted that there was a role for traditional leaders in the region.

SOUNDBITE:
Mediation is all about autonomy, all about the structures of the kingdom, the pillars of which are Amakhofis - tribal chiefs - themselves.
SUPER CAPTION: Mangosuthu Buthelezi

How the ANC dominated government will react to these new threats from their erstwhile enemies, the Inkatha Freedom Party, remains to be seen, but Buthelezi has confirmed his position as leader of Inkatha with the show of support he received at the conference today.

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