Inkatha rejects new cabinet seats

PRETORIA – South Africa’s largest black opposition party yesterday refused to take the two seats it was offered in the country’s new cabinet, raising new questions about political turbulence after this month’s elections.

President Thabo Mbeki said the Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party had (IFP) rejected the posts of deputy minister of sport and deputy minister of public works after Wednesday’s reshuffle. “This morning I got letters from them to say that the leadership of their party had discussed this matter and wanted to have further discussion.And therefore they declined to be sworn in this morning,” Mbeki said at a cabinet swearing-in ceremony in Pretoria.”What will therefore happen is that we will proceed to appoint two deputy ministers since they have declined to serve.”Mbeki on Wednesday had named the IFP’s national spokesman Musa Zondi as the new deputy minister of public works while IFP legislator Vincent Ngema had been appointed deputy minister of sport.IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi was dropped as home affairs minister in the reshuffle after his party’s poor showing in the April 14 general elections, which saw it lose control of its only stronghold, KwaZulu-Natal province, to Mbeki’s African National Congress.The IFP – whose long rivalry with the ANC has exploded into bloody factional fighting in the past – initially threatened to challenge the results of the April 14 polls, which gave the ANC some 70 per cent of the vote and effective control of all nine provinces for the first time.But Buthelezi announced on Monday the party would not go forward with its court case, a step some analysts interpreted as aimed at saving himself a spot in Mbeki’s new cabinet.Tensions were high in the run up to the vote in KwaZulu-Natal, where violence between ANC and IFP supporters in the years leading up to the country’s first democratic elections in 1994 claimed thousands of lives.The IFP’s proposed court challenge accused the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of failing to properly investigate more than 40 complaints of violence and intimidation as well as alleged polling irregularities.The IEC said it had received no reports of serious problems and certified the election results as free and fair on April 17.Zondi told the South Africa Press Agency that the IFP would make a full statement on the cabinet issue when it was ready and denied that tensions were again on the rise in KwaZulu-Natal.Zondi, widely tipped as Buthelezi’s likely successor to lead the party, said the 75-year-old Zulu prince had not been disappointed by Mbeki’s decision to drop him from the cabinet.- Nampa-Reuters”This morning I got letters from them to say that the leadership of their party had discussed this matter and wanted to have further discussion.And therefore they declined to be sworn in this morning,” Mbeki said at a cabinet swearing-in ceremony in Pretoria.”What will therefore happen is that we will proceed to appoint two deputy ministers since they have declined to serve.”Mbeki on Wednesday had named the IFP’s national spokesman Musa Zondi as the new deputy minister of public works while IFP legislator Vincent Ngema had been appointed deputy minister of sport.IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi was dropped as home affairs minister in the reshuffle after his party’s poor showing in the April 14 general elections, which saw it lose control of its only stronghold, KwaZulu-Natal province, to Mbeki’s African National Congress.The IFP – whose long rivalry with the ANC has exploded into bloody factional fighting in the past – initially threatened to challenge the results of the April 14 polls, which gave the ANC some 70 per cent of the vote and effective control of all nine provinces for the first time.But Buthelezi announced on Monday the party would not go forward with its court case, a step some analysts interpreted as aimed at saving himself a spot in Mbeki’s new cabinet.Tensions were high in the run up to the vote in KwaZulu-Natal, where violence between ANC and IFP supporters in the years leading up to the country’s first democratic elections in 1994 claimed thousands of lives.The IFP’s proposed court challenge accused the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) of failing to properly investigate more than 40 complaints of violence and intimidation as well as alleged polling irregularities.The IEC said it had received no reports of serious problems and certified the election results as free and fair on April 17.Zondi told the South Africa Press Agency that the IFP would make a full statement on the cabinet issue when it was ready and denied that tensions were again on the rise in KwaZulu-Natal.Zondi, widely tipped as Buthelezi’s likely successor to lead the party, said the 75-year-old Zulu prince had not been disappointed by Mbeki’s decision to drop him from the cabinet.- Nampa-Reuters