14 October 2009

The IFP has taken note of comments made by the Deputy Minister of the Department of Defence and Military Veterans, Mr Thabang Makwetla, during an interview with the Sowetan, that "all the military formations that were involved in the past conflict" - including the Inkatha Freedom Party-aligned self-protection units (SDUs) - should now be incorporated into the SANDF. 

"Efforts by the Department of Defence and Military Veterans to allow previously barred individuals into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) are welcomed, as the initiative will definitely bode well for unity and nation-building," said Albert Mncwango, the IFP's Spokesperson on Defence. 

Mncwango added: "However, we must set the record straight when suggestions are made that the IFP had a military wing like umKhonto weSizwe, or that communities were ever 'under attack' by the KwaZulu Government's Self-Protection Units." 

The erstwhile KwaZulu Government established SPUs in response to the People's War which saw the murder of many IFP councilors and members. 

SPUs were never part of the apartheid machinery and were often used to protect social assets. 

"We agree with the Deputy Minister that 'all of us were convinced that we were right'," said Mr Mncwango. "But the true tragedy of our history is that not all of us were right. The IFP has never accepted violence as a tool for political or social liberation," concluded Mncwango.

 
Contact:
Albert Mncwango MP
083 448 4896 or
Liezl van der Merwe
083611 7470