MEDIA STATEMENT
BY THE
INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY
Nongoma Pre-Election Violence - Court Finds IFP Not Guilty
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A court ruled this week that there was no case to pursue against members of the Inkatha Freedom Party who were arrested on suspicion of attempted murder following a pre-election ANC rally in Nongoma, KwaZulu Natal in February this year. Zulu royal family member and ANC MP Prince Zeblon Zulu and his daughter-in-law, Dorris Zulu, were shot and wounded after leaving a rally in Nongoma. "Earlier this year, IFP members were blamed for shooting one of the ruling party's supporters in front of the ANC offices in Nongoma. Subsequently, we were blamed for the violence that erupted during the ruling party's campaign blitz in Nongoma and Ulundi. Both of these claims have now been dismissed in court and it proves without a doubt that the ANC used undemocratic and underhanded tactics to discredit the IFP in the lead-up to the April elections," said Albert Mncwango, the IFP's National Organiser. Mncwango said that the negative publicity the IFP received during their election campaign caused untold harm to the party. "The ANC was on a systematic campaign to destroy the electorate's confidence in the IFP by concocting lies about us and they used the media as their mouthpiece. Propaganda stories such as these - that the IFP has taken a deliberate long-term view that they will never allow the ANC to freely campaign in Ulundi and Nongoma, even if that results in the death of their opponents - were peddled in the media as facts. The damage has been done but now that the true facts are out in the open we hope that the media will respond positively," said Mncwango. Mncwango added that the court ruling has also exposed what the IFP has said all along - that the ruling party abused the SAPS during the build-up to the elections for their own gain. "The ANC used the SAPS as its private army - our leaders were harassed and intimidated and our supporters were arrested for crimes they didn't commit. The SAPS operated in a vindictive manner against those perceived to be enemies of the ruling party," said Mncwango. Mncwango has repeated his warning that democracy will suffer if the ANC is allowed to again abuse its power in KwaZulu Natal. "The IFP is already gearing-up for the 2011 local government elections and we are certain that we will once again have to deal with the same undemocratic shenanigans that the ANC were guilty of during the 2009 elections, such as intimidation, bribery and the spreading of false information. We want to call on the ANC to play by the rules in the lead-up to the 2011 elections and not to engage again in the dirty politics of spreading false information," said Mncwango. Contact:
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