9 April 2009

The Inkatha Freedom Party has denounced the ludicrous statements made by the MEC for community safety and liaison, Bheki Cele, referring to the IFP President Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi at a rally in Durban on Monday.

"Quite frankly, we are incensed by the allegations that our President has to answer to anyone about the so-called 'Powell weapons' and the implication of course that those weapons were somehow accessible to IFP supporters, in other words that they were used to kill people. This is pure nonsense. Bheki Cele, a former MK soldier is the very last one to talk about arms, and we call on him to immediately retract these senseless remarks," said Albert Mncwango the IFP's National Organiser.

The IFP contends that Cele's statements are nothing more than cheap electioneering.

"The IFP views these remarks in the context of the upcoming elections. It's nothing more than cheap electioneering from a man that will soon find his party out of office in KZN," said Mncwango.

Mncwango warned that Cele's latest outburst illustrates the kind of dangerous mud-slinging that the ANC leadership in the Province of KwaZulu Natal is indulging in.

"Cele's ill-advised remarks have the potential of re-igniting the undesirable flames of political intolerance and violence. None of us want to see that ever happen again. For this reason, we have, for decades, drawn the attention to the politics of recklessness the ANC in KwaZulu Natal like to indulge in," said Mncwango.

He added: "There is never a word said about the ANC's famed "armed struggle" that was responsible for the largest proliferation of weapons in the province in its entire history and that it is to blame for the trigger-happy culture that continues to plague our communities in the form of violent crime."

Contact:
Albert Mncwango,          083 448 4896 or
Liezl van der Merwe,      083 611 7470.