Mangosuthu Buthelezi

Mangosuthu Buthelezi, born in 1928, South African politician, chief minister of the former bantustan (or black homeland) KwaZulu (1976-1994) and founder of the Inkatha Freedom Party. Born in what is now the province of KwaZulu-Natal, Buthelezi is related to the Zulu royal family through his mother, Princess Magogo. He is descended from Cetshwayo, a Zulu king who ruled in the late 1800s. Buthelezi's father, who was chief of the Buthelezi tribe, died when Buthelezi was 14 years old. Buthelezi's uncle, Maliyamakhanda, was appointed regent, to govern the tribe until Buthelezi was ready to assume the role of chief. Buthelezi received his early education at Christian mission schools. He then attended South African Native College (now the University of Fort Hare) in Alice. During college Buthelezi joined the African National Congress (ANC) Youth League. He was subsequently expelled from college because of his political activities, but in 1951 he received his degree in history and Bantu administration (a discipline designed to train black South Africans for certain government positions) from the University of Natal in Durban. In 1953 Buthelezi returned home and was appointed chief of the Buthelezi tribe.

During the 1950s the white South African government divided the black majority population according to ethnic groups and assigned them to separate territories which the government considered to be ethnic homelands. These territories, called bantustans (or black homelands), were part of the government's policy of apartheid, or separation of the races. Parts of Zululand became the bantustan of KwaZulu, designated for the Zulu people. At first Buthelezi opposed this system but then decided to work within it. In 1976 he became the first chief minister of KwaZulu. Also in 1976, he founded the Black Unity Front to promote unity and federation of the bantustans. Buthelezi rejected the idea of full independence for the bantustans, arguing that apartheid could best be fought if the territories remained part of South Africa.

Around this time, Buthelezi reinvigorated a movement called Inkatha. The movement was originally founded as a Zulu cultural organization, but Buthelezi turned it into the political party called the Inkatha Freedom Party. The party grew rapidly, and it eventually became the dominant party of KwaZulu. Buthelezi attempted to forge the South African Black Alliance in 1978 with other political parties. His political power base remained confined to the Zulu, however, and only a portion of them were his firm supporters.

Tensions mounted between Inkatha and the ANC in the 1980s, after the ANC accused Buthelezi of cooperating with the South African government. Sporadic fighting between supporters of the two parties, carried out mainly in the black townships on the borders of South African cities, began in 1985 and continued in the 1990s, despite a peace agreement signed between the party leaders in September 1991. In 1991 the South African government was forced to admit that it had been supporting Inkatha financially. A 1994 inquiry further revealed that the government's security forces had been providing weapons for Inkatha to use in the township fighting. The government's support for Inkatha was intended to increase political divisions within the black population and to undermine popular support for the ANC.

Buthelezi initially refused to participate in South Africa's first free elections in April 1994, demanding that KwaZulu be granted a certain amount of autonomy and that the Zulu king occupy an official position in the KwaZulu government. KwaZulu, along with the other bantustans, was dissolved at the time of the 1994 elections. Buthelezi finally took part in the elections, however, after reaching an agreement that recognized the traditional authority of the Zulu king and postponed until after the elections further negotiations about regional autonomy. Inkatha won 10.5 percent of the vote in the national elections, gaining 43 seats out of 400 in the National Assembly, and Buthelezi was appointed minister of home affairs in the cabinet of President Nelson Mandela. Buthelezi clashed with Mandela’s successor, Thabo Mbeki, who removed Buthelezi as minister of home affairs after 2004 elections.