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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