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Dear friends and fellow South Africans,

This week I faced the difficult task of bidding farewell to my life-long
friend and colleague, the former Deputy Minister of Safety and Security,
Joseph Gaobakwe Matthews. I met Joe in 1948 when we both attended the
University of Fort Hare. His father was the Vice Principal of the University
and I had the privilege of studying Roman Dutch Law and Criminal Law under
his brilliant tutelage.

Throughout our lives, Joe remained a virtuous friend. He was one of the
treason trialists; he briefly joined the SACP; he went into exile; he
practiced law; he returned in 1991 and became the IFP's CEO in 1992; he
formed a formidable part of our negotiating team at Kempton Park; he served
as a Deputy Minister for the first ten years of democracy; and he supported
me in every difficult decision I took, even when his own convictions
differed.

While history may condense his life in this way, those who loved him will
remember the details; the trivialities of everyday life that made up the
character of a great man. I was deeply saddened by his passing, even as he
was 81 and I today turn 82. Despite the fact that we shared a lifetime, it
was not enough. I shall miss him dearly.

I had the opportunity to pay tribute to him in the National Assembly and at
a memorial service in Parliament, and tomorrow I shall attend his funeral
and again pour out my heart over our terrible loss. In the midst of
honouring his memory, however, there was a painful moment in which I read Dr
Pallo Jordan's comments in last week's Sunday Times. Dr Jordan, an ANC NEC,
was quoted as saying that Joe Matthews' legacy is somehow besmirched by his
decision to join the IFP.

I am amazed at how nothing is sacred in politics. Joe Matthews is the father
of the Honourable Minister of Science and Technology, Ms Naledi Pandor. His
contribution to our country was immeasurable. Yet because of his association
with me, the ANC feels the need to insult him, just days after his passing.
I am by now used to being unjustly vilified at every turn. But it pains me
to see my friends suffer by association.

Dr Jordan is conveniently forgetting that I also began in the ANC Youth
League and my mentors were leaders like Inkosi Albert Lutuli, who often
visited my uncle, the Zulu Regent, at the palace where I grew up. Before
1979, I worked closely with the President of the ANC's mission-in-exile, Mr
Oliver Tambo, during a period when I was already the Chief Minister of the
KwaZulu Government.

In fact, at the unveiling of Mr Tambo's tombstone some years ago, Mr Cleopas
Nzimande admitted in the presence of President Nelson Mandela and the
leadership of the ANC that it was him, Inkosi Lutuli and Mr Tambo who asked
my late sister, Princess Morgina Dotwana, to encourage me to take over the
leadership which the Government was foisting on the people; which was the
KwaZulu Government.

After years of the propaganda machine running, it is difficult for some in
the ANC to step out of the mould and be honest about the past. There are
still facts that they would like to sweep under the carpet. The facts
remain. But a question arises as to whether this propensity to belittle
anything associated with me and the IFP is really just an old habit, or
belies a more sinister agenda.

Last weekend, the National Council of the IFP called an Emergency Extended
National Council meeting to address the serious concern that has arisen that
the ANC may in some way be involved in fomenting ructions within the IFP.
This is not a statement I make lightly, being aware of the peril of
straining relations between the two parties. We still grieve the loss of
20,000 black lives in the low intensity civil war that raged in KwaZulu
Natal between members of the ANC and UDF, and members of the IFP, in which
even members of AZAPO and the PAC were slaughtered.

But despite the denials of ANC involvement that have appeared in The Mercury
and other newspapers, there is overwhelming evidence pointing to people both
inside and outside the IFP being on the payroll of people within the ANC to
fuel problems for our Party. During our Extended National Council meeting I
put forward this evidence in great detail, with dates and incidents and
names. My speech was released to the media and is now in the public domain.

Before I delivered this speech, however, I met with the President of the
ANC, Mr Jacob Zuma, on the 16th of July and spoke frankly about my concerns.
He was surprised by the incidents I recounted, assuring me he was unaware
that members of the ANC's NEC and even an ANC Minister had made public
statements confirming the lie that the IFP is persecuting its National
Chairperson, and that the IFP is sexist and undemocratic. The President
promised to take this matter up with the Deputy President.

A few weeks later, during Women's Week, a sitting of the KwaZulu Natal
Legislature was disrupted by members of the ANC Women's League singing
derogatory songs about me. There is no disputing their identity, as they
were wearing their uniforms. They insulted me, using my pet name the way ANC
cadres did during the internecine war of the eighties, to goad me. "Gatsha
is afraid of a woman", they sang.

They did this in the presence of our National Chairperson and other IFP
women leaders, including Mrs Thembani kaMadlopha-Mthethwa, the Secretary of
the IFP Women's Brigade and Mayor of Jozini. Obviously pleased with their
own audacity, they then sang, "Zanele is ours", referring to the IFP's
National Chairperson, Mrs Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi.

My concerns deepened as it became clear that the interference in IFP matters
by the ANC was intensifying and becoming more strident. I therefore
requested a meeting with the Deputy President, Mr Kgalema Motlanthe. We met
on the 18th of August, and I detailed the same concerns I had raised with
the President. The Deputy President expressed surprise and disquiet, which
both worried me and led me to hope that these matters would now be taken
further.

I cannot go higher than this in seeking resolution to the tensions that are
fast forming between our two parties. The criticism that I am speaking
behind the backs of ANC's leaders by addressing these issues at the IFP's
Extended National Council, is therefore undeserved and malicious.

The evidence is before us and the question is no longer whether or not the
ANC is fomenting problems in the IFP. The question is now whether there is
collusion at the highest level of the ANC to destroy the IFP. Because, make
no mistake, if the enormous resources, power and underhanded tactics of the
ANC are brought to bear to destroy the IFP, there can be no other end than
the destruction of our Party.

Now that the President and Deputy President know what is happening in their
own Party, what are they going to do about it? I fear that a lack of
response on their part would indicate that the ANC is truly intent on
creating a one party state.

Yours in the service of the nation,

Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi MP.