Being, as I am, one of the most vilified leaders in South Africa, I am always surprised by the kindness people extend to me and my family in moments of crisis. On Sunday the 27th of July my beloved daughter, Princess Lethuxolo, was killed in a car accident on her way home to Melmoth. My family has been devastated by this loss.  

As happens in these dark moments - thank God - our friends have rallied around us, making our grief their own. But we have been surprised by the unexpected support of people across the political spectrum, people with whom my Party has crossed swords several times in the past and even people who have publicly spoken against me at one time or another. Messages of condolence, words of support and even expressions of praise have flowed from many quarters.  

This has given me pause to remember that we are ultimately all human beings trapped in this mortal coil, subject to the slings and arrows of misfortune and loss. Our frailty is often hidden behind our boldly spoken ideologies and beliefs. Sadly it is also true that at times our humanity is lost behind the causes we champion. This should not be so. 

The poet Aeschylus once wrote:  

Even in our sleep, pain which cannot forget 

falls drop by drop upon the heart, 

until, in our own despair, 

against our will, 

comes wisdom 

through the awful grace of God. 

Our nation has also endured pain which cannot forget. I have engaged a lifelong struggle against the Machiavellian excuse that the end justifies the means. I refused to embrace the armed struggle waged against apartheid because I felt that bloodshed could not be justified by the hope of freedom.

My humanity intervened to put people before ideologies. This was not a popular move. By taking the high moral ground, I have walked an often lonely road. 

The fundamental differences between the ANC and the IFP have instigated many clashes throughout the years, where ideological differences at the highest level spilled over into violence at the grassroots level. I have always been acutely aware of how a political message percolates down to the masses, evolving from an intellectual stance to an emotional outpouring. At times the finer details get lost in translation and people lose sight of the goal. 

For this reason, I have pursued reconciliation between the IFP and the ANC over many years, knowing that our goals are often the same while it is our ideologies that differ. We cannot afford to lose our humanity, at the cost of lives, for the sake of ideologies, particularly when we are moving towards the same cause of liberty, justice, equality, prosperity, unity and peace. But the road to reconciliation has been fraught with problems.

The nub of the problem today has been that the reconciliation between the two parties has too often been a top-down process rather than a transformative change in the hearts and minds of ordinary people in our respective constituencies.  

In October 1999, President Mbeki and I held a joint rally at the unveiling of the Thokoza monument for the victims on both sides who died in the violence. President Mbeki spoke of the close co-operation between me and the ANC leadership in exile, acknowledging that the elements that had portrayed me as a sell-out to the liberation cause had indeed been wrong.  

Though Mr Mbeki's unscripted remarks were welcomed, the effects of the damage spawned by the campaign of denigration against me and Inkatha still linger in some quarters of the black constituency. The President graciously returned to this in parliament recently when he confirmed "that within my personal knowledge, the Hon Dr Mangosuthu Buthelezi told the truth when he spoke about his relations with the late President of the ANC, OR Tambo". 

And then, two weeks ago, at Reverend CJ Mtetwa's funeral, the President of the ANC Mr Jacob Zuma spoke about Inkatha's and my role in the liberation struggle in more than positive terms. Whilst one appreciates this new generosity of spirit, I think it is important to unequivocally clarify that today our organisations are two quite distinct animals in respect of our multi-party democratic order.  

Moreover, the cordial relationship between the respective parties' national leaders and the normalisation of party relations, in terms of how political parties in a multi-party democracy interact with one another, has not yet filtered down to the provincial level. 

Matters came to an un-pretty pass in 2006, when the two remaining IFP MEC's were unceremoniously ejected from the provincial cabinet. The ANC and the IFP co-governed at national level between 1994 and 2006 and between 1994 and 2004 at provincial level in KwaZulu-Natal, but this co-operation did not reach a stage where it could cascade to the local government level. 

This, in itself, is not intrinsically a bad portent for multi-party democracy in the province. But, at the same time, the relationship between the two parties must not be allowed to descend into bitter acrimony. This remains a pressing matter particularly as we fast approach the general election. Legitimate political competition and the ongoing process of reconciliation must be carefully balanced. 

Today the IFP fully plays its role as the official opposition in KwaZulu-Natal and is seeking to replicate its recent string of by-election victories at the next general election. 

We are quite clear about what kind of country we would like South Africa to be and will soon be unveiling our policy programme. We want a thriving economy that creates the wealth to deliver rising living standards and better public services to all.   

The challenges range from combating the HIV/Aids pandemic, fighting rampant crime, the provision of adequate healthcare and welfare grants, to the crisis in education. We want a caring society that gives people the freedom to live the lives they want, but which supports families and protects the vulnerable.

And we want to be part of a strong, self-confident and outward-looking country, a country with a good reputation in the region and the wider world, a country we can be proud of. 

We also know that the social impact of globalisation and relentless urbanisation is driving people to take refuge in what they know - their families, communities and regions. As I have said before, there is growing consumer-like demand for the reform of the ANC's "one size fits all/take it or leave it/top down" model.  

In the first decade of the twenty-first century, the new battleground is increasingly around the politics of localism - people want the power to shape their own lives. This, if I may say so, is the clear blue water between the IFP and the ANC; these are these lines upon which we will contest the next election: as political opponents, not as enemies.   

Yours sincerely,

Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi MP