JOHANNESBURG, Sept 9 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Mangosuthu Buthelezi, a Zulu nationalist leader who presided over South Africa’s deadliest violence ahead of the first multiracial elections in 1994, died on Saturday aged 95, President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
“I am deeply saddened to announce the passing of Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi … Traditional Prime Minister to the Zulu Monarch and Nation, and the Founder and President Emeritus of the Inkatha Freedom Party.” Ramaphosa said in a statement.
Buthelezi was a hereditary chief of the Zulus, South Africa’s largest ethnic group. He was also the prime minister of KwaZulu, the Zulu homeland, and founder of the Inkatha Freedom Party, a Zulu political and cultural movement.
“Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi has been an outstanding leader in the political and cultural life of our nation, including the ebbs and flows of our liberation struggle, the transition which secured our freedom in 1994 and our democratic dispensation,” Ramaphosa said.
Chief Buthelezi was the founder of the Inkatha Freedom Party, a Zulu political and cultural movement.
He found common cause with the African National Congress in the struggle against apartheid and campaigned for the release of Nelson Mandela.
But he became a fierce critic of the organisation in the 1980s, denouncing its support for armed opposition to the apartheid authorities and its backing for international sanctions. — NNN-AGENCIES
