18 January 2012

The Editor
The Mercury
Via email: jon.knight@inl.co.za

Subject:LETTER TO THE EDITOR: BY MR ALBERT MNCWANGO MP (IFP)  

Your story about my resignation from the position of IFP National Organiser Albert Mncwango (Senior IFP member's resignation 'a surprise?', 11 January) rests on speculation by an unnamed IFP insider.

The proposal to replace me, a politician, with a technocrat was merely a discussion point due to be considered by an upcoming National Council meeting which alone has the authority to ask the National Organiser to resign.

I regret that I did not wait for the party's National Council, which is its highest decision-making body, to pronounce on this proposal, but announced my resignation before it could be discussed, let alone agreed on, by the National Council. My greatest regret is the harm my premature statement caused my political organisation and its leader.

The Mercury's sole source, the unnamed IFP insider, implies that I had been targeted by IFP President Prince MG Buthelezi to whose leadership I allegedly posed a threat. This is nonsense.

It is common knowledge attested by numerous statements by the IFP President himself that Prince Buthelezi wishes to retire from politics. He certainly has no ambition to continue leading the IFP indefinitely. In fact, he holds no ambitions for any leadership positions at all. He, however, continues to lead the IFP by popular demand, precisely because his sound leadership is more indispensable today than ever before.

Albert Mncwango MP