The National Council of the Inkatha Freedom Party met in Ulundi on the 21st and 22nd of March 1999 and unanimously adopted the following resolutions:
RESOLUTION 1
1. The National Council is dismayed that some media twisted the statement rendered by IFP President, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, in respect of the legitimate procurement of weapons for the Mlaba Camp, which was legally and openly established in 1993 to train people to supplement police work to counter a wave of political violence and criminality.
2. The National Council notes how this event highlights the latent bias of the media against the IFP which is always ready to surface in full force, and invites responsible journalists and editors to an honest self-examination of their proclaimed fairness and political impartiality.
3. National Council deplores that the statement of the IFP's President about the Mlaba Camp was related by the media to the allegations made by Eugene de Kock that he illegally provided certain weapons to the IFP, and that this erroneous interpretation continued to be repeated, especially by the SABC, long after the IFP President had promptly issued a press statement clarifying the matter.
4. The National Council supports its President in his statement that neither the President of the Party nor the National Council itself have ever authorised anyone to receive illegally any weapons from Mr. de Kock nor from anyone else, nor have they ever received any information that any such weapons were ever received.
5. The National Council expresses its support for Prince GL Zulu, Rev. CJ Mtetwa, Mr TD Ntombela and Mr Philip Powell, MPPs who have become the object of a smear campaign by some leaders in KwaZulu Natal, who are against reconciliation and peace.
6 The National Council notes that de Kock's statements, which are used to hinder Powell's tireless work in reconciling communities at grassroots level, have never been tested in a court of law and that in the past five years not one single weapon of the type specified in his statement has ever surfaced in the conflicts in KwaZulu Natal.
RESOLUTION 2
1. The National Council deplores the continuing efforts made by the ANC leadership in KwaZulu Natal to hinder -
- the process of political reconciliation and peace by raising tensions with pretexts and gratuitous accusations; and
- the governance of the province by undermining Premier LPHM Mtshali, MPP, disrupting parliamentary proceedings and obstructing governmental activities and failing to extend to the Premier basic respect and the political co-operation required by the constitution, all of which fall very short of the high standards of conduct which have governed the IFP's participation in the GNU and in Parliament in Cape Town.
2. The National Council expresses its full support for Premier LPHM Mtshali, MPP and invites all the citizens of KwaZulu Natal to rally behind him in the name of good governance, peace, reconciliation and a no-nonsense policy vis-a-vis people who do not wish to make a personal contribution to make KwaZulu Natal succeed and prosper.
3. The National Council calls on all IFP structures and members to pursue the cause of reconciliation and peace at grassroots level to show the ANC leadership in KwaZulu Natal that even if they do not care for peace, their own people on the ground are sick and tired of violence and intimidation being used as a method of electioneering.
4. The National Council calls on the ANC's leadership in KwaZulu Natal to resume peace and reconciliation talks in all possible venues and to leave no stone unturned to show in a visible and tangible fashion our shared commitment to peace and to send a clear message that the people of this province must reconcile.
#NC.424