PRESS STATEMENT BY LPHM MTSHALI, MPP
PREMIER OF KWAZULU NATAL AND
NATIONAL CHAIRMAN OF THE
INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY

Today the Sunday Tribune and other media carry the news that reportedly the Director of Public Prosecutions would be considering causing the arrest of the ANC MEC for Health in KwaZulu Natal, Dr. Mkhize and IFP MPP, Philip Powell. Reportedly, the arrest would be linked to allegations of gun- running and attempted murder and tied to a plan to destabilize the elections in KwaZulu Natal.

The allegations regarding ANC MEC Dr. Mkhize have come to the fore recently and, inter alia, have formed the basis of a commission of enquiry which I established as the Premier of KwaZulu Natal. We welcome police and judicial investigation into these serious allegations. The backdrop of these allegations has now offered some ANC operatives the opportunity for a provocative and disingenuous balancing act centred around the revival of old allegations against Mr Powell.

The ANC leadership in KwaZulu Natal has loudly voiced the allegations against Mr Powell for five years and no-one has found substance to them. Moreover, these allegations go back to 1992 and would have no bearing on the upcoming elections, were it not for the ANC attempting to balance ANC discredited provincial leaders with a campaign to discredit the IFP. The measure of the untruth of this propaganda is shown by the Sunday Tribune restating a lie which has long be exposed as such, namely that Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi would have admitted that Mr Powell was sent to receive weapons from Eugene de Kock. It has long been clarified by the media itself that Minister Buthelezi was referring to Mr Powell having been sent by the erstwhile KwaZulu Government to receive weapons legally and legitimately purchased from Eskom, which did not happen because the contract fell through.

There is, however, a much more disturbing aspect to these news reports which must receive the investigation of the media, the Public Protector and the Human Rights Commission. We have reason to believe that the outlandish allegations of a conspiracy to destabilize the elections have not been put forward only for political propaganda. They have been used as the legal basis to enable intelligence services to spy on the IFP electoral campaign, tap phones and order the surveillance of its leaders. The utilization of the State intelligence services for dirty tricks and electoral information gathering is typical of a Banana Republic at its worst and makes a mockery of the Constitution and its Bill of Rights. The IFP urges the Public Protector and the Human Rights Commission to investigate as a matter of urgency the utilization of intelligence services for this purpose and the use of intelligence reports to tap phones and illegitimately monitor the IFP electoral campaign for the benefit of our political opponents.

Mr Philip Powell will also lodge a complaint with the Public Protector and the Human Rights Commission to seek protection from this continuous harassment against him which infringes on his human rights as well as on his constitutional prerogatives as a member of Parliament engaged in an electoral campaign.

On the tombstone of many fledgling democracy is written that Government arrested on phoney charges active and effective political opponents on the eve of elections and used the intelligence services to spy on the opposition on the basis of allegations of conspiracy. It has happen often all over the world and it is happening here. All forces of democracy must reject what is happening, because the issue is not Senator Powell alone but the future of our democracy.

Enquiries: Rev. K.M. Zondi 031 301 0252 or 083 440 5966

Peter Smith 031 301 0252 or 083 303 6009