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.