The birth of a movement and prepared for the future in spite of the crushing indignities heaped on blacks and the obvious political forces which were being set in INKATHA motion as a forerunner to the system of apartheid as we know it today. The philosophy of Ubunto- Botho (African humanism — THEN . .. Ubuntu in Nguni languages and Botho in Sotho languages) played a crucial role then as it inculcate traditional values of does now in the struggle for humanism at a time when the promotion of African colonial forces were actively patterns of thought and value ihe national Inkatha engaged in attempting to systems. liberation movement of today break down the cohesiveness King Solomon's Inkatha was a grew, in part, from a cultural and cultural values of his sincere effort to warn his organisation of the same name people in addition to taking people of the dangers of the founded in the 1920s by King away vast tracts of their land. cultural domination and Solomon. King Solomon knew that it arrogance of the whites as well It was King Solomon's was vital that a sense of , as the need to acknowledge intention, in brief, to preserve belonging be engendered and and remember that African the unity of the Zulu nation. He that his nation remain a people political institutions are not felt there was a need to proud of their past and hopeful undemocratic. with an unwritten mandate, from the outset, to survive in a political whirlpool which had sucked so many others under. INKATHA Chief Buthelezi made it clear to his followers then and has often repeated that the strategy of survival is paramount, lb th» end he quoted Chairman Mao NOW . Tse Tung: "The basic principle of war is to preserve oneself and destroy the enemy ..." KwaZulu its membership was Apartheid was then and is made open to all blacks — now the enemy and during its men, women and youth — and 11 years of existence, Inkatha here the "old" Inkatha branches opened in has organised itself into an wleft off. the "new " Inkatha Natal/KwaZulu, the Transvaal, unassailable position of picked up and launched itself the Orange Free State and the strength. The coil has not been this time as an all-embracing Western Cape. broken and it has not buckled national movement with its The national cultural under the weight. sights set on the liberation of liberation movement, Inkatha, Inkatha's emergence was a all black South Africans. was founded by Chief result of a desperate need at Although established in Mangosuthu Buthelezi in 1975 that time for black democratic 6 forces to come to the fore and quiet corners. in Soweto were nor Zulus. As pick up the gauntlet of the Chief Buthelezi, from the this was done some years ago, black struggle for liberation — beginning, spoke of them in there is no reason to believe left tragically destitute by so his speeches and even quoted that non-Zulu membership has many others. them — a punishable offence. fallen away since then — rather Wave after wave of He raised the question of their than increased. repression by the South release at his first meeting with Inkatha's strength African Government had, by the then Prime Minister, John undoubtedly lies in the fact 197S. left black politics in Vorster, and has continued to that it is membership-based disarray. From the early 1960's do so with the present State and not an affiliate organisation there was no organised black President. and, secondly, that all its political activity of any By opening Inkatha to all agendas are open agendas. It significance. black South Africans he operates openly, attracts urban The African National incurred the wrath of the then and rural membership, and is Congress had been banned Minister of Justice, Jimmy not a secretive organisation and its leaders were either in Kruger, who in Pretoria on which plots out of the sight and tail or in exile. September 19. 1977, warned hearing of the public at large. The Secretary-General of Chief Buthelezi that he could The back-breaking job of Inkatha. Dr Oscar Dhlomo, legally ban the movement organising constituencies has wrote recently that it was along with all the others the now been done and this work The name "Inkatha" has deeply symbolic as well as practical connotations. In essence, an "Inkatha11 is a plaited coil worn on the head to carry and alleviate the weight of heavy loads. In.history, before the wars of white conquest and the brutal destruction of national treasures, an "Inkatha" was worn by the King within which sacred objects were secreted. An "Inkatha" is so powerfully woven together that it does not crumble and break, it does not slip and dislodge its burden. An "Inkatha" carries the weight of the nation, the treasures of the nation, and the burdens of the people. Inkatha's strategy, from the Government had shut down. continues. Inkatha's structures outset, to pursue "open Chief Buthelezi's response have been well-defined and its politics" with the aim of was a defiant "... I will not strengths and weaknesses opening up political debate exclude non-Zulus from the evaluated. and reintroducing dialogue. movement as long as the Revolutionary tactics and Dr Dhlomo pointed out, too, National Party does not strategies had been tried — that there are two levels of exclude non-Afrikaners." and they failed. It was time, in strategy as far as the movement By then he was speaking 1975, for a new approach, a is concerned: one strategy is to from a position of strength new initiative. survive; the other is an because Inkatha already had Since then other, uniquely organisational strategy which hundreds of thousands of distinct, organisations have members which, today, have also been formed — some with Inkatha must pursue in the grown to number 1,3 million. roots in the Black struggle for liberation. Consciousness Movement and "It is all too easy to confuse Membership forms are not another which is supported by these two sets of strategies — categorised in order to identify the External Mission of the as indeed many politically ethnicity and there is no way in ANC orientated black organisations which an exact breakdown can have," he emphasised. produce figures relating to Inkatha does not claim it is At the time of Inkatha's Zulu and non-Zulu member­ the "sole and authentic" launch, in 1975, the names of ship. However, one empirical representative of the black ANC leaders Nelson Mandela, study conducted in 1977 by the peoples of South Africa. Its aim Walter Sisulu. Goven Mbeki, Arnold Bergstrasse Institute of is to work, in a multi-strategy Moses Mabhida and others, Freiburg University in West approach, for the freedom of including PAC leader Robert Germany showed that 40 the people and for a united, Sobukwe, were whispered in percent of Inkatha's supporters non-racial, democratic country. 7 AIMS AND OBJECTIVE • 7b foster the spirit of unity among Black people throughout South Africa and between them and their Black brothers in Southern Africa and to keep alive am foster the traditions of the people; • to help promote and encourage the development of the Black people j spiritually, economically, educationally and politically; • to establish contact and liaise with cultural groups in Southern Africa with a view to the establishment of a common society; • to stamp out all forms of corruption, exploitation of man by man and intimidation; • to ensure acceptance of the principles of equal opportunity and treatment for all peoples in all walks of life; • to co-operate with any movement or organisation for the improvement of the conditions of the people and to secure the most efficient production and equitable distribution of the wealth of the nation in the best interests of the people; • to abolish all forms of discrimination and segregation based on tribe, clan, sex, colour or creed; • to promote and support worthy indigenous customs and cultures; 1 • to protect, encourage and promote trade, commerce, industry, agriculture and conservation of natural resources by all means in the interests of the people and encourage all citizens to participte in all sectors of the economy; • to give effect to the principles approved from time to time by the appropriate organs of the Movement; • to ensure observance of the fundamental freedoms and human rights; • to inculcate and foster a vigorous consciousness of patriotism and a strong sense of national unity based on a common and individual loyalty and devotion to our land; • to co-operate locally and internationally with all progressive African and other nationalist movements and political parties which work for the complete eradication ofall forms ofcolonialism, racialism, neocolonialism, imperialism and discrimination and to strive for the attainment of African Unity; and • to carry on any other activities which in the opinion of the Movement are [ conducive to the attainment of the aims and objectives of the National Movement and to do such things as are incidental to the attainment of the above objectives. STATEMENT OF BELIEF 1. We believe that respect for individuals and the value placed on cultural and large groups is synonymous with progress towards a politically stable society. 2. We believe that political rights of all national groups should be protected within a constitutional framework which outlaws discrimination based on colour, sex or creed. 3. We believe in individual equality before the law, equality of opportunity and equality of benefits from the institutions of the State. 8 4. We believe that the identity of an individual within a particular cultural milieu is essential to his identity as a South African, but we believe also that culture belongs to all men and that no social, economic or political impediments which hinder the free movement of individuals from one cultural milieu to another are in any respect justified.