He was 95 years old: the South African Zulu leader Buthelezi is dead

class=”sc-29f61514-0 icZBHN”>

Nelson Mandela’s Zulu chief, party leader and later Home Affairs Minister was one of the last surviving protagonists of the anti-apartheid struggle in the Cape. Long seen as a beacon of hope and a freedom fighter, he was also criticized by his former allies and later opponents in the African National Congress (ANC) as a stooge of the apartheid government.

Unlike Mandela’s ANC, he rejected the armed struggle against the racist white apartheid government and advocated nonviolent resolution of conflicts. Apartheid was a state doctrine under which blacks and whites had previously been separated in South Africa. Although he called for the release of his companion Mandela, he was also seen as a shrewd profiteer of the white apartheid government.

Buthelezi, who comes from a royal family of the great Zulu nation, took over leadership of the Buthelezi clan in 1953 after studying history before becoming head of government in 1976 for the KwaZulu tribal area in Natal, which was controlled by the apartheid was considered autonomous. government. Supporters of the ANC, which was then banned in South Africa, excluded the Inkatha when they founded the United Democratic Front (UDF) in 1983. The conflict between the two groups led to a brutal power struggle that left more than 20,000 dead.

Buthelezi retained his parliamentary mandate until an old age. Just a few years ago, the bearded politician resigned as chairman of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP), which he founded in 1975. (SDA)

Source: Blick