Abstract
Of all the major players in South African politics between 1994 and 2004, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) had been the most ethnically and regionally based, receiving over 90 percent of its support from one ethnic group, the Zulu, and locating virtually all its support within the confines of one province, KwaZulu-Natal (KZN). During the first decade of democracy, the IFP attempted to shed the party’s exclusive Zulu appeal and to build a national following based on social and economic conservatism. Whether or not the IFP succeeded (the party still derives most of its support from Zulus), the mere fact that party genuinely attempted to become a national, nonethnic organization is important and reflects the dynamics of the political system.
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Notes
See Gerhard Mare and Christina Hamilton,“The Inkatha Freedom Party,” in Election’ 94 South Africa; Johnson and Schlemmer, Launching Democracy in South Africa; Laurence Piper, “Democracy for a argain: The 1999 Election in KwaZulu-Natal,” Politikon 26, no. 2 (1999): 145–154. Tom Lodge noted that the IEC vehemently denied that the outcome of the 1994 election in KZN had been determined through bargaining, but he also noted that the discrepancies between the number of votes reported to have been cast on the provincial and national ballots from KZN shed doubt on the veracity of the IEC’s denial (Consolidating Democracy, 12).
In 1996, when trying to woo DP and PAC leaders into closer cooperation with the ANC by offering them cabinet positions, Mandela had reportedly referenced the Zimbabwean situation as a model South Africa should consider following (J. E. Spence, “Opposition in South Africa,” Government and Opposition 32, no. 4 [Autumn 1997]: 522–541, 537).
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© 2009 Jessica Piombo
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Piombo, J. (2009). The Inkatha Freedom Party: Turning away from Ethnic Power. In: Institutions, Ethnicity, and Political Mobilization in South Africa. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230623828_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230623828_8
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-38036-7
Online ISBN: 978-0-230-62382-8
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