Mangosuthu Buthelezi, a prominent political figure in South Africa and a fiery Zulu chief, passed away at the age of 95.
He started the Zulu Inkatha party during the racist apartheid system after losing faith in the African National Congress (ANC).
In the early 1990s, conflicts between supporters of the two parties resulted in thousands of fatalities.
However, he was later accepted back into the fold and appointed minister of home affairs for President Nelson Mandela.
As the head of an ethnic-Zulu homeland, Chief Buthelezi was a cunning but divisive politician who opposed the ANC’s use of military struggle against white minority rule. Instead, he chose a more moderate course.
He opposed foreign sanctions on South Africa, contending that they would only hurt the nation’s majority-black population.
Nelson Mandela’s ANC charged him with working with the white-minority government during the early 1990s violence.
Some people were concerned that the unrest may spark a civil war and stall the democratic transition that saw Mandela elected president in 1994.
Although Buthelezi consistently denied it, many thought that elements of the apartheid security forces were collaborating with the Inkatha movement to attack the ANC.
Paying respect, President Cyril Ramaphosa called Chief Buthelezi a “formidable leader” and oversaw the ceremonies.
He claimed that during the course of seven decades, he “played a significant role in our country’s history.”
The president added: “Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi has been an outstanding leader in the political and cultural life of our nation, including the ebbs and flows of our liberation struggle, the transition which secured our freedom in 1994 and our democratic dispensation.”
He said Chief Buthelezi had died in the early hours of Saturday, two weeks after celebrating his 95th birthday.
