Mangosuthu Buthelezi Quotes
My party is committed to a federation.
Buthelezi, Mangosuthu. Interview. Inkatha Freedom Party Archives, 1994.
The custom during the civil war was that dead soldiers would be buried in groups by the state they came from. The chaplain, after a particularly bloody battle, has asked if he should separate the bodies by state.
Whoever has the political control of the central government generally favors more centralized power and less decentralization. The opposition wanting to weaken the majority, tends to favor decentralization and states’ rights and the local governments.
There was huge pressure on the central government to decentralize as they held all the power in Indonesian society. However, if they devolved power to the Provinces (States), many of them could be large enough and independent enough to secede and become an independent country as East Timor had done. So the Indonesian power structure bypassed the Provincial governments and devolved power directly to the local governments, none of which was independent enough to go it alone. The desired objective was met—no more secessions. However, there was no one to worry about regional and national issues and problems as the politicians who had power were all local. The country was becoming non-functional in many ways.
Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi is a South African politician and Zulu tribal leader who founded what became the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in 1975, and was Chief Minister of the KwaZulu bantustan until 1994. He was Minister of Home Affairs of South Africa from 1994 to 2004. He is often referred to as Shenge, which is part of the Buthelezi clan praises.
