MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI: You are wrong, I never planned or sanctioned violence
'Not a single shred of evidence was produced at the TRC that I was involved in any attack, act of violence or human rights abuses'
EXTRACT
Unlike many ANC leaders, I never sought amnesty from the TRC.
More than half the ANC's cabinet members received blanket amnesty for "grave violations of human rights". Defined by law, this means murder, torture or mayhem.
I refused to apply because I had nothing to disclose. I asked that the state charge me if I had orchestrated any criminal act. Not a single charge was ever brought. I don't have a "brutal past".
In last week's article, "Honour Buthelezi if you must, but he was no hero of the struggle", political editor Sibongakonke Shoba writes about my birthday dinner. About the speakers, including the premier of KwaZulu-Natal, the minister of energy, former president FW de Klerk, Nelson Mandela's daughter and the son of the first president of Zambia, Shoba writes: "I couldn't help but wonder if [they] were talking about the same man I knew growing up." The answer, Mr Shoba, is, "No, they weren't", because you didn't know me when you were growing up. You knew the fabricated image of a monster, created by the ANC's propaganda. As Mandela admitted in April 2002: "We have used every ammunition to destroy [Buthelezi], but we failed. And he is still there. He is a formidable survivor. We cannot ignore him." I feel it important to disabuse Shoba of the propaganda that still misleads him, because his position as political editor demands a foundation of truth. Let me begin with the TRC. He writes:...
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