Mr. Speaker and Hon. Members,

today's debate centres around the Hon. Inkosi BN Mdletshe's Motion moved on behalf of Inkatha Freedom Party.

The Motion reads: "Noting; "The ANC's verbal commitment to the preservation and cultivation of Zulu traditional institutions, "And noting "The listing in the PFMA of the KwaZulu Natal House of Traditional Leaders as a public entity, "And further noting "That in practice the House is not formally accorded either the respective status or the funding to function in line with this legal definition.

"This House resolves "To condemn the ruling party's hypocrisy in pledging to respect the House as a legitimate stakeholder but, at the same time, treating it as a mere rival party political institution."

Responding to Question No. 35 from the Hon. iNkosi Mdletshe, which dealt with the same subject, the Hon. Mr. Mike Mabuyakhulu, Minister of Traditional Affairs in this Province - while acknowledging that indeed the KwaZulu-Natal House is listed as a Public Entity - advanced some arguments which to him justified his current position of not regarding the House as a Public Entity .

The Minister argues that, since its inception, the House has never complied with any of the requirements stipulated in the PFMA. He said this dates back to the time before he assumed office. The Minister continues to state that when he assumed office he did ask the House to provide him with the records of its meetings, its Annual Reports, its Quarterly Reports, its Business Plans and its Strategic Plans. To his surprise, he was told that the House had never had all these documents required by law.

On the basis of this response, he came to the conclusion that at no stage did the House become a Public Entity.

Let us focus on the Minister's conclusion. Did the Minister take any steps to engage the House with a view to ensure that it corrects this anomaly? Did he carry out his obligations as a leader charged with overseeing the smooth running of his department and its institutions; did he leave no stone unturned to help or guide the House towards fulfilling its legal obligations? This does not transpire in the reply he gave to iNkosi Mdletshe's question. Then if he did not, I am afraid the Minister abdicated his responsibility. To me therefore, without first having taken steps to ensure the correction of what was wrong, there was no justification on the part of the Minister to come to the conclusion that the House was never a public entity.     

Another question is, did the Minister make the leadership of the House aware that because they had failed to abide by the law, he had decided to revoke their rights as a Public Entity?

What is even more puzzling, Hon. Speaker, is that the law of the country stipulates clearly that the KwaZulu-Natal House of Traditional Leaders is a public entity and as far as I understand, it does not say that its status is conditional on the House adhering perfectly to everything it says. But Minister Mabuyakhulu simply decides that, just because the House has failed to carry out certain legal obligations, he will not implement what the law says. To me that is contravention of the law. 

Is the Minister fair? How many government Departments have been chastised by the Auditor-General and by other bodies because they are pathetic? Would it be fair for the Minister of Finance to simply withdraw budget allocations meant for such departments just because they have failed? No. Instead there must be interventions to help them carry out their obligations.

Lest we forget, Minister Mabuyakhulu is an ANC member deployed in this Department by the ANC under the leadership of the Premier, the Hon. JS Ndebele. Yet, despite the fact that this controversy involving their deployed leader and the House has been going on for some time, the ANC has not lifted even a finger to call their deployed member to account.

The ANC's silence is disquieting. 

Is it because Minister Mabuyakhulu is carrying out the mandate to deal with decisively Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi? One is tempted to draw this conclusion when one looks at the unfortunate developments around the House. First, when the elections were going on, there were attempts to bribe amaKhosi not to elect Prince Buthelezi. Indeed there were talks to the effect that the ANC wanted to deal with new faces now. Those attempts failed dismally.

When those attempts failed, a resolution was taken apparently to make the House ungovernable; to make the kitchen so hot that Prince Buthelezi would have no choice but get out of the kitchen. Lately, there has been this ultimatum that both the Chairperson of the House and his Deputy must be employed full-time. As I take my seat, I wish to ask the Hon.

Minister that today he must produce to this House and in fact hand out copies of the letter he alleged to have been written by the House where it asked that both the Chairperson and his Deputy must be full-time positions. We have heard a lot about it without seeing it. For the sake of record and transparency, let him show the letter.      

Hon. Speaker, for the sake of posterity I feel I have no option but to place all the unfortunate developments between the Department of Traditional Affairs and the KwaZulu-Natal House of Traditional Leaders within their proper context. The real reason why we see all this hullabaloo is that this House is led by Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

History knows that the anti-Buthelezi spirit within the ANC is traced to the breakdown of relations after the 1979 London meeting between the delegations of iNkatha and the then ANC-Mission-in-Exile. But even before that meeting there was no unanimity within the ANC as far as their relations with Prince Buthelezi and iNkatha were concerned. There were those who strictly followed what the ANC referred to as 'liberatory intolerance.' And they hated Buthelezi with a passion simply because he refused to be the ANC's fetch-and-carry-boy. It is history that the ANC told some businessmen in one of the meetings in Dakar in the 1980's that when they took over power they would ban iNkatha.

So, some members of the ANC have never been healed from this demonic anti-Buthelezi spirit, up to now. They are still committed to that evil plan to wipe Buthelezi and the IFP out of the political scene.

Unfortunately, most of such members are found here in KwaZulu-Natal.

It is our considered view therefore that Minister Mabuyakhulu is operating within that mandate in his dealings with the House. We say this without implying that he belongs to that faction. He may be one of those whom Lenin referred to as 'useful idiots.'

Against this background, this House, for the sake of protecting multi-party democracy, must endorse the IFP'S position as put forward in today's Motion:

"To condemn the ruling party's hypocrisy in pledging to respect the House as a legitimate stakeholder but, at the same time, treating it as a mere party political rival."