IFP PRESS STATEMENT BY: 
MR VELAPHI NDLOVU MP
IFP SAFETY AND SECURITY SPOKESPERSON

14th July 2008

The Inkatha Freedom Party's Safety and Security Spokesperson, Mr Velaphi Ndlovu MP, said today that the IFP would like to see the South African Human Rights Commission keep its word by taking legal action against Mr Zwelinzima Vavi if he doesn't apologise for his 'kill for Zuma' statements. 

Mr Ndlovu commented: "The 'kill for Zuma' statements by both Mr Julius Malema and Mr Zwelinzima Vavi can definitely be seen as incitement to violence or to commit a crime, which are constitutional offences. 

"Mr Vavi's expression of respect for the Constitution and the Bill of Rights today, in a letter to the SAHRC, is not enough. Using violent remarks for a particular political cause is a total violation of our country's constitutional principles.  

"It is in light of this that the IFP calls on the Human Rights Commission to act decisively against Mr Vavi if he doesn't formally apologise and retract his statements.  

"The public will be keeping a close eye on the meeting between Mr Vavi and the SAHRC and the outcome of it in a week or two's time. 

"If Mr Vavi is let off the hook without a formal apology and with serious consequences, it will confirm the public's perceptions that the commission is a toothless body that cannot fulfil its mandate of entrenching and defending our constitutional democracy, and that it is a waste of taxpayers money," concluded Mr Ndlovu.