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The IFP has taken note of comments made by the Deputy Minister of the
Department of Defence and Military Veterans, Mr Thabang Makwetla,
during an interview with the Sowetan, that "all the military
formations that were involved in the past conflict" - including the
Inkatha Freedom Party-aligned self-protection units (SDUs) - should
now be incorporated into the SANDF.

"Efforts by the Department of Defence and Military Veterans to allow
previously barred individuals into the South African National Defence
Force (SANDF) are welcomed, as the initiative will definitely bode
well for unity and nation-building," said Albert Mncwango, the IFP's
Spokesperson on Defence.

Mncwango added: "However, we must set the record straight when
suggestions are made that the IFP had a military wing like umKhonto
weSizwe, or that communities were ever 'under attack' by the KwaZulu
Government's Self-Protection Units."

The erstwhile KwaZulu Government established SPUs in response to the
People's War which saw the murder of many IFP councilors and members.
SPUs were never part of the apartheid machinery and were often used to
protect social assets.

"We agree with the Deputy Minister that 'all of us were convinced that
we were right'," said Mr Mncwango. "But the true tragedy of our
history is that not all of us were right. The IFP has never accepted
violence as a tool for political or social liberation," concluded
Mncwango.