Abigail Heiderscheit

Democracy and Global Diversity

April 21, 2016

Inkatha Freedom Party

My name is Becky as a women representing the Inkatha Freedom Party and active

member of the COSAG party. Being a part of this freedom party allows me to bring traditional

values of the Zulu nation heritage to the new democratic goals for South Africa. For who I am I

will fight for my people to make justice laws that will help my people out and let the Zulu nation

become a part of South Africa government but also give us our homelands. Bringing the Zulu

nation to the new South Africa government will show traditional values and institutions that can

create a powerful nation because of the different cultural that South Africa tribes to life.

I believe that bringing Zulu nation to the South Africa because of rich cultural would

benefit everyone who is a part of South Africa because people will understand the diverse

cultural that could enrich everyone. Also that our cultural need to be respected but giving us our

independences to become KwaZulu-Natal will make the Zulu people happy for the hard work we

have made to create our nation. This powerful nation makes up four major ethnic divisions

among Black South African they are Nguni, Sotho, Shangaan-Tsonga and Venda (site). There are

millions of people who are part of this nation and separating and bring a whole nation together

will break us a part and destroy everything we have made for ourselves like army, economy,

laws, our values and traditions. This still means we want to be a part of South Africa and support

democracy we just want our land to be separate so we can experiences and still respected our

Zulu nation.
 As a member of the Zulu nation I am going to explain why our heritage is so important to

our homelands and why it is so important for the new South Africa government to support and

bring it to the new government. Our land was founded in 1670 by the Zulu royal line which is

located Southern part of Africa by the coast if the Indian Ocean (Zulu, 2016). This is where we

belong to where we grew up where we found our language which is Zulu and our religion is

Christianity which a major part of todays world religion (Zulu, 1996). Because of our ancestral

spirts we believe that religious life, offering and sacrifices are made to the ancestors for

protection, good health, and happiness are important to us where the South Africa should take

these ideas to better the government. We love to dance and sing, by promoting unity at all

ceremonies for example births, wedding, and funeral by drums and the men dress as warriors

(Zulu, 2016). Another thing we find important to our cultural is storytelling, poems, and proverbs

this part teaches the Zulu history and teach moral lessons if South Africa become one whole

nation our stories and proverbs will get loss just like our heritage (Zulu, 2016). What we are

known for is our beautiful weaving, craft-making, pottery, and beadwork and this now some of

us make a living (Zulu, 2016) taking that away from us some people cannot make a living. The

most part we believe in and the South Africa government too is family where drinking and

eating from the same plate is a sign of friendship and that share what you have so like sharing

power and leader is up for that challenge.

Creating this party the Inkatha Freedom Party gives us an opportunity to make our

nations create again but we can give the South Africa something they can give us something in

return. My leader is Chief Gastsha Buthelezi, this goals for our nation is having homeland-based

political party to have achieved recognition, opposed to apartheid, full independences of the

KwaZulu-Natal (Traditional, 1994). Buthelezi also supports democracy in South Africa, as long
as it respects traditional African cultures and institutions. When the Inkatha was founded we

promote and encourage the development of the people of KwaZulu, spiritually, economically,

educationally, and politically which put them in the place to all African and other nationalist

movements and political parties which work for the complete eradication all forms of

colonialism, neocolonialism, racialism, imperialism, and discrimination (Traditional, 1993).

Many people of Africa apposed us especially the African National Congress (ANC) because of

their black support (Traditional, 1993). The ANC wants the Zulu nation and Africa be brought

together and whole and my people cannot do that it was tear our culture a part. All we want was

Zulu nation is freedom of expression, assembly, and association for other groups are routinely

denied (Traditional, 1993). Opposed apartheid because apartheid is all black South Africans

would lose their South African citizenship and become instead citizens of theoretically

independent states with South Africas borders (Traditional, 1993). That our number one priority

is the homeland and the South African had argued that independent homelands requires the

consent of the governments concerned, because it treats them as sovereign states (Traditional,

1993). Then the South African government passed legislation in 1993 which makes provision for

the jurisdiction granted to the six non-independent homelands to be revoked (Traditional,

1993). Which to really did not settle well with my leader, me and my people, only because the

concerned was the self-governing territory (Traditional, 1993). With the Zulu nation we have the

largest homeland populous, but we are desperately poor and depends on subsidies from South

African taxpayers to survive (Traditional, 1993). If the South Africa gives us a self-governing

territory we still want to be a part of South Africa but we already have a way of life for us like

language, cultural, laws, beliefs, and values and the other people of South Africa do not see it. Us

as the Inkatha Freedom Party, the KwaZulu Legislative Assembly adopted a Constitution for the
State of KwaZulu/Natal in 1992 (Traditional, 1993). The constitution stated the right to free

economic activity and enterprise, protection for private property, and the prohibition of state

control of economic enterprise or of services unless so authorized by a law demonstrating a

public need and the inadequacy of the private sector to satisfy such a need (Traditional, 1993).

Then in July 1992 a Concerned South Africans Group (Cosag) was formed, between the

leaders of KwaZulu, Bophuthatswana, Ciskei, Inkatha Freedom Party, and two white right-wing

parties, the Conservative Party, and the Afikaanse Volksune (Traditional, 1993). Cosag oppose

the reincorporation of the independent homelands and supports a federal system for South

Africa which the central government would have minimal power to influences local conditions

(Traditional, 1993). The IFP stated that for the future of South African state was agreed, with

provision for shared sovereignty between regional legislatures and central government

(Traditional, 1993).

For my people and leader when still have not gotten what we want with self-governing

states and maybe we need some time to correct but now that Inkatha Freedom Party is part of the

COSAG party and more people behind us. This could be very difficult time because of the

protection that my people need for example my members, support for getting jobs, keeping

possession of land the people own, and providing care for families while men work in the mines.

Also all Africans wish for equality, freedom, and they wish to raise themselves out of the

desperate poverty in which they have been mired for decades. Africans understand that these

goals will come through embracing a multi-party democratic system. This will allows the people

of COSAG and the different tribes come together especially we could share power with the

other states of South Africa. With a multi-party democratic system the Zulu nation can still have
their traditional values and cultural and let it still be a part of them and the new South Africa

government.

Cited Work

S. (April 13). Zulu. Retrieved April 21, 2016, from http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/zulu

Traditional Dictatorship: One Party State in KwaZulu Homeland Threatens Transition to

Democracy (Human Rights Watch Report, September 1993). (1994, September). Retrieved April

21, 2016, from https://www.hrw.org/reports/1993/southafrica2/#_ftn1