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My dear friends and fellow South Africans,

Last Friday, I took the decision to withdraw my nomination as the
Chairperson of the KwaZulu-Natal House of Traditional Leadership (KZNHTL).
In view of the some of the erroneous reports pertaining to my decision I
feel it is important to clarify some of the issues.

The ANC have campaigned long and hard for my removal as the Chairperson of
the KZNTL since its inception. This personal vendetta has, at times, clouded
the issues of substance surrounding traditional leadership which I have
addressed on a number of occasions in my online letter. I will return to
those substantive issues and offer a glimpse of what could be a bright
future for the institution shortly.

First, it is important to evaluate the timeline of events to understand last
Friday's outcome. The former premier Mr S'bu Ndebele and the Provincial
Cabinet, of which Premier Mkhize was a senior Minister, took a cabinet
decision in early 2008 to try and remove me and my then Deputy by ordering
that we should work "full time" or else resign our positions as Member of
Parliament and Principal respectively. We were given a deadline of June 1.
We took the matter to the High Court and the Provincial Government lost the
case. It was stated by the Judge that the Premier and the Provincial Council
had no legal authority to make the order that they had made.

The then MEC for Traditional Affairs, Mr Michael Mabuyakulu, on behalf of
the Executive Council, went further to ask for leave to appeal to take the
decision to the Supreme Court of Appeal. Their application was again
dismissed with costs. These actions clearly underscore the petty political
agenda of the ruling-party. It is axiomatic that the campaign to remove me
was supported by President Jacob Zuma. I was attacked by the SACP and others
for stating this, but it was the President and the Premier who met with
amaKhosi to discuss this matter.

By way of anecdotal example, even on Thursday evening, amaKhosi who were
intending to vote for the other candidate, were accommodated at the
Riverside Hotel with senior officials of the Department of Traditional
Affairs in Durban, whilst I was accommodated with my presumed backers at the
Royal Hotel on the other side of the city.

One is not downcast however. To paraphrase Mark Twain, "reports of my
(political) death have been greatly exaggerated". Times may be changing, but
talk of failure and lost credibility is clearly absurd. I took a principled
and strategic decision not to stand for re-election as Chairman of the
KwaZulu Natal House of Traditional Leaders. My decision, I believe, has
effectively strengthened the institution of traditional leadership.

My statement to the KZNHTL on Friday encapsulated my case. It read as
follows:

"I have dedicated my entire life, really since my early years, to doing
everything in my power to promote the cause of the Zulu Kingdom and foster
the unity and prosperity of the Zulu Nation within the greater unity of
South Africa. I remain committed to these historical goals, the final
achievement of which will only materialise long after the time of my
passing. I would never do anything to jeopardise the final realisation of
these goals.

We are at a strange juncture of transformation which has created confusion
between long-term goals and short-term personal and political gains and
benefits. I know that this juncture will be temporary and that traditional
leaders of the Kingdom of KwaZulu will again focus on the long-term aspects
of their historical mission for the benefit of our nation and all our
people.

However, no matter how temporary, confusing and ill-motivated this juncture,
it is most pernicious to the achievement of the long-term goals to which I
and many others in this House have consecrated our lives.

It is clear to me that at this present juncture the collegial body of
traditional leaders of the Zulu Kingdom is not ready to speak with an
unanimous voice and express a candidate for the chairmanship of the
provincial House of Traditional Leaders which can unify all of us.

Historically, whenever our traditional leadership has been united, our
kingdom has prospered. Whenever it has been divided, our kingdom has
suffered. Historically, the constant and sole tactic utilised by our
opponents to undermine our Kingdom and our Nation has been that of dividing
our traditional leadership.

For this reason, I am not prepared to be used as a tool to divide our
traditional leadership. Nor am I prepared to preside over a divided House or
a divided institution of traditional leadership. For this reason, I have
chosen not to make myself available for election as the Chairperson of the
provincial House of Traditional Leaders of KwaZulu Natal, a position which I
have held since 1994, considering the position I held in the antecedent of
this House.

If this House is capable of producing a candidate, any candidate, who can
receive the unanimous support of this House, such person ought to be elected
in my place, because the unity of our traditional leadership is far more
important than me. In the name of such unity, I pledge to cooperate with
whoever will be so elected for as long as he or she receives such unanimous
support, to which end I pre-announce that I will be abstaining during the
voting process."

After the election of the deputy chairperson and the new executive which
followed the election of the chairperson, I said:

"I wish to congratulate Inkosi Bhekisisa Bhengu on his election as
Chairperson of the KwaZulu Natal House of Traditional Leaders. I know that a
difficult task lies ahead for our new Chairperson. At the same time I must
congratulate Inkosi M Mzimela who was elected as Deputy Chairperson, a
position he has retained since the inception of the House. His election as
Deputy is a great asset to the house because of his experience not only as
Deputy Chairperson of the House but for having held the position of
Chairperson of the National House for several years.

Inkosi Bhengu and Inkosi Mzimela take up this position in a time of
cheque-book politics, where the interests of our Nation have taken a
backseat to self-interest and power plays. In this pernicious environment,
Inkosi Bhengu and Inkosi M Mzimela will need to give a strong example of
leadership, to unite our Nation and express the unanimous voice of amaKhosi.

AmaKhosi have entrusted Inkosi Bhengu and Inkosi M Mzimela with building on
the tireless work we have done in the past 15 years, so that we may now see
the tangible fruits of our long labour. Indeed, amaKhosi have mandated
Inkosi F Bhengu and Inkosi M Mzimela to bring about the full recognition of
the Zulu Monarchy and the Zulu Kingdom, to establish unity within our Nation
and to ensure that Government's commitments to the institution of
traditional leadership are upheld.

After years of fighting for these very goals as Chairperson of the House, it
was rewarding for me to see Cabinet, under former President Mbeki, approve
the establishment of a Department of Traditional Leadership in 2008, to
restore the dignity of the institution and to properly focus on the needs of
traditional communities.

Former President Motlanthe, now our Deputy President, added his approval to
this decision just a month before South Africa's national elections,
assuring amaKhosi that the new Government would take the issue of
traditional leadership to a qualitatively higher level.

Inkosi F Bhengu and Inkosi M Mzimela must now engage with President Zuma's
Government to see the fulfilment of all this work. As a seasoned politician,
I am concerned by the implications of President Zuma renaming the Department
of Provincial and Local Government as the Department of Co-operative
Governance and Traditional Affairs. I encourage our new Chairperson to
ensure that the groundwork we have so painstakingly laid is not now set
aside.

There are those who have sought to buy our amaKhosi. If their agenda of
disempowering the institution of traditional leadership finally succeeds, we
will have to face the tragedy that chequebook politics has won. For the sake
of our Nation, I pray that is not the case".

In a clear expression of continued support for the leadership I have
provided over the years, amaKhosi increased the number of my supporters on
the ten-member Executive, who won eight of the ten seats. Three of my
supporters were nominated to represent the provincial House in the National
House of Traditional Leaders, and my close ally and right-hand man Inkosi
Mzimela was returned as Deputy Chairperson. The ANC's scored only a pyrrhic
victory.

As Reverend Musa Zondi, the IFP Secretary-General put it this week:

"What some are hailing as an ANC victory, is a hollow victory indeed. It
seems the ANC has not heeded the tragic historical lessons of various
countries throughout Africa where party-political ideologues - parading as
democrats - attempted to eradicate or phase-out the institution of
traditional leadership, with destructive social consequences.

"Prince Buthelezi challenged the old colonial and later apartheid attitudes
towards traditional leadership, dedicating his life to the preservation,
recognition and restoration of the dignity of amaKhosi. Ironically, after
years of battle, the most serious threat to amaKhosi has come from a
democratically elected government.

"The battle has become dirty and underhanded, as evidenced in the backstage
bribing and buying of amaKhosi."

As I said at the beginning of this letter, the deeply personal campaign
against me has, I fear, detracted from the key issues surrounding
traditional leadership; namely, authority, recognition, empowerment and
reconstruction.
Authority in modern day South Africa derives from a Western-style democratic
process where leaders are chosen by popular demand by people of all
backgrounds and rank. Socio-economic development in our communities is,
thankfully, driven by market forces and regulated, sometimes too vigorously,
by government. However, there are numerous areas where traditional leaders
may be more effective than government and I do not say this only because I
am a traditional leader and the Chairperson of the Zululand District House
of Traditional Leaders and the Traditional Prime Minister of the King.

Such areas include, for instance, programmes dealing with community health
in remote areas that the local government has difficulty accessing,
maintenance of education facilities, cultural activities including teaching
of culture, traditions and language and certain semi-judicial disciplinary
processes involving families and youths. It is crucial that traditional
leaders are supported in their endeavours by elected officials through
legislative processes and financial backing.

As the Machiavellian machinations of the ruling-party in recent times
suggest, the government seems content to pay lip service to the idea of
continuity of African traditions through the institution of traditional
leadership. Yet our government forgets that by constraining the capacity of
traditional leaders to serve their communities, it ultimately curtails the
potential of the communities concerned.

I have dedicated my entire life to the preservation of traditional leaders
in our communities. If the Zulu Kingdom is to survive, it must have its
respective powers and functions recognised in and safeguarded by a
provincial constitution. Such a constitution must accommodate not only the
current monarch, but the monarchy as a whole and its constituting
structures, including the amakhosi. Let us learn from countries like Uganda
which is a republic like South Africa but recognises its constituent three
kingdoms.

The matter came to a head in 2000 when the new wall-to-wall system of local
government was inaugurated. Obviously, due to the lack of clarification, a
clash was pending between the roles of elected councillors and amakhosi. The
then Deputy President, Mr Jacob Zuma upon instructions of President Mbeki
and cabinet together with representatives of the Coalition of Traditional
Leaders of South Africa, legal experts and Ministers agreed in November 2000
that chapters 7 and 12 of the Constitution would need to be amended to
prevent the obliteration of the roles and functions of traditional leaders.

A long process of negotiations ensued. It was finalised in the National
Framework of Traditional Leadership and Governance Act No 41 of 2003 which
duly enabled provinces to pass their own legislation pertaining to
traditional leadership. President Thabo Mbeki likewise pledged in a letter
to the then National Chairperson of the House of Traditional Leaders, Inkosi
M Mzimela, that if the powers and functions of traditional leaders were
obliterated by the Municipal Structures Act and other legislation, he would
amend the Constitution. Neither this, nor the earlier 2000 undertaking, was
fulfilled.

Looking ahead to find a way out of this quagmire, perhaps a reconstruction
of traditional leadership, while keeping a hands-off approach on the
governmental functions of elected officials, may help revitalise our
traditional leaders. The dual authority system between traditional
leadership and modern politics that exists today needs to be recognised more
formally as a relationship on equal basis. The specific roles to be assigned
to traditional leaders should be carefully thought out and fully agreed by
both systems from the start.

We need to also keep in mind that while the assigned roles may be clear, the
method of carrying them out may be far more involved than anticipated.
Clearing a piece of land for a traditional ceremonial venue may require the
financial and technical support of the local government to perform these
services up to modern standards. Without a full commitment of the elected
government and its financial assistance, it is impossible for traditional
leaders to do any business.

I still believe that even as the clock chimes five minutes to midnight for
the survival of the institution in our country, much could be achieved if
traditional leaders were enabled to co-operate with local government and
were adequately resourced. We may have different roles and different
capacities to elected councillors, but we both share the passion for the
same constituency: the rural poor.

Yours sincerely,

Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi MP