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This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. It is the product of almost two decades of research and includes analyses, chronologies, historical documents, and interviews from the apartheid and post-apartheid eras.

Buthelezi, Mangosuthu

1928 -

Mangosuthu Buthelezi is a member of the Zulu royal house. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Fort Hare, where he joined the ANC Youth League and came under the influence of Professor Z K Matthews. Here he also met fellow students Robert Sobukwe and Robert Mugabe. He became the chief of the Buthelezi tribe in 1953.

In the early 1970s Buthelezi established Inkatha, a cultural organisation, which later became a political party. In 1978 he played a leading role in the formation of the South African Black Alliance.

In December 1991 the IFP and the KwaZulu government sent representatives to CODESA but Buthelezi did not attend, protesting that Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini had not been given full delegate status.

The IFP won ten per cent of the national vote in the April 1994 elections. Buthelezi was appointed Minister of Home Affairs in the new government, which post he held until 2004. He is currently the leader of the IFP.

This resource is hosted by the Nelson Mandela Foundation, but was compiled and authored by Padraig O’Malley. Return to theThis resource is hosted by the site.