Mandela's threat harks back to apartheid age

Mandela's threat harks back to apartheid age

By Rich Mkhondo

JOHANNESBURG (Reuter): By threatening to cut funds to
rebellious KwaZulu-Natal, President Nelson Mandela appears to
have adopted the tactics used by South Africa's former white
governments against errant black homelands, analysts said.

Mandela told a rally on Monday that Pretoria's funding for
KwaZulu-Natal might be cut if the province's ruling Inkatha
Freedom Party (IFP) continued to threaten his government.

"They should know that it is us that give them money and they
use the money against my government. Should they continue, I am
going to withdraw that money," he told supporters.

Mangosuthu Buthelezi, leader of the Zulu-based IFP, wants
constitutional guarantees of regional autonomy but Mandela's
African National Congress (ANC) wants power to stay at the center
and has been avoiding foreign mediation.

Mandela and former white president F.W. de Klerk agreed with
Buthelezi in the run-up to the country's first democratic
elections last April that mediation would take place as soon as
possible after the polls.

That has not happened yet and Buthelezi has called supporters
"to rise and resist" the Pretoria government, a call that angered
Mandela and led to his threat.

Political analysts said on Tuesday that instead of honoring
his pledge, Mandela had used the same tactics as those of
minority governments trying to rein in errant black apartheid-
created homelands in the last years of white rule.

"It will be highly improper to allocate resources according to
political imperatives...It sounds very much like what the old
National Party government used to say," said Natal University
political science lecturer Mervyn Frost.

"The country's constitution stipulates that the money to the
provinces will be allocated according to the size of the
population, economic imperatives, industrial resources and other
objective criteria," Frost said.

"Up until now President Mandela has not put his foot wrong. He
has always responded as a statesman. But this outburst will have
the effect of strengthening Inkatha's anger. Inkatha is going to
be more belligerent and will thrive on grievances."

A government source said Mandela would not act on his threat
but was "just sending a signal", but Frost's view was echoed by
Inkatha legislator Sue Vos.

"This is a classic reason why we need a federal dispensation
-- so that whenever the head of government is displeased with a
province it will not cut the purse strings," Vos said.

Sipho Maseko, a political science lecturer at the University
of the Western Cape, said he could not see a connection between
the Inkatha-led provincial government and Buthelezi's party
political call for protests to back demands for mediation.

"I cannot see the connection. This has long-term implications.
Does this mean that in future if there is a disagreement in the
Western Cape province which is controlled by the National Party,
the president will use the same threats?" Maseko asked.

KwaZulu-Natal Premier Frank Mdlalose, also Inkatha's national
chairman, said:

"The bellicose statements by President Mandela...are
unbecoming for the incumbent of such high office and do nothing
to promote peace and reconciliation...The additional statements
he made about withholding funds from our province and the payment
of salaries for amakhosi (traditional chiefs) are not wise and
will merely inflame passions."

The Transkei black homeland, created in 1976, later became a
thorn in the side of the Pretoria government, which accused it of
allowing corruption and harboring black guerrillas responsible
for attacking white civilians.

In March Mandela hailed former Transkei ruler Bantu Holomisa,
now a senior member of the ANC, for defying de Klerk's government
despite budget cuts imposed by then white-ruled Pretoria to try
to bring the homeland into line.