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The consolidation of Gatsharism might be the unintended consequence of the MK Party.

THIS PIECE WAS PUBLISHED IN THE SUNDAY TIMES OF 07 JANUARY 2024 UNDER THE HEADLINE "MK PARTY COULD TURN ZUMA INTO A NEW BUTHELEZI". THIS IS THE UNEDITED VERSION

One of the famous quotes by Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi was, 'So long as the Zulu people are here, clearly, I will still have a role in this country.' The Chief abrogated the role of championing Zulu Nationalist Interests to himself. In this role, he masterminded the centrality of the Zulu Monarch as the centrepiece of South Africa's cultural expression. The heroic threading of the Zulu Kingdom by King Shaka Ka Senzangakhona was consolidated into an aspect of modern democracy by Buthelezi in ways few other Zulu leaders could muster. While our Constitution was a modern construct of what the people's will be, Buthelezi infused the answers that antiquity could be into its modernity. 

In this role, he positioned himself as the conduit to the Zulu King. Despite being a political party leader, Inkatha managed his leadership role in-the-Zulu monarchy to be as non-partisan as possible. In that position, though, Chief Buthelezi was able to weave himself and the IFP into the national politics of South Africa. He was, correctly or otherwise, presented in the national political discourse as one of the leaders of the liberation struggle. He wrapped his positional power within the Zulu monarchy with his political ambitions to lead South Africa and possibly the continent. 

 

His quote cements how he sees himself," 'So long as the Zulu people are here, clearly, I will still have a role in this country." he became the voice of the Zulu from within the monarchy. His political leadership was inextricably linked to his role in the Zulu royal house. This developed into what this rendition characterised as Gatsharism, a condition where political capital is drawn from an ethnic base. 

 

While this has, in South Africa, origins in the period where African ethnic differences were given institutional expressions through self-government and pseudo-independence, it developed into a potent strategy for some leaders to position their careers around ethnicity. KwaZulu-Natal stands out as the province where being overtly Zulu nationalist has redefined the political fortunes of many leaders in South Africa. Gatsharism is, however, not only a Zulu-centric phenomenon but has thrived in KZN more than anywhere else. 

 

Gayton McKenzie's patriotic front, the Minority Front, the Freedom Front, and Xiluva have all modelled their strategies around ethnic discontents and thus angling for particular voters. The issue of tribalism has, for a while in the ANC, been classified and treated as a demon. Only after the prize of political government was won did it resurface and attract slogans such as '100% Zulu boy' in the internal-to-the-ANC leadership contestations. This tendency settled as the ANC started to realise that the numerical strength of KwaZulu-Natal voting branches was strategic in the overall stability and management of the ANC. 

 

Consequently, KZN became the province to be contested to deliver better results if you wanted to lead the ANC. This strategic value of KZN traces how Buthelezi threaded Zulu-speaking people into a formidable political unit whose consensus is 'so long as the Zulu people are here, clearly I (every Zulu leader) will still have a role in this country". From within the ANC, and not of his design and making, the person of Jacob Zuma became the node to identify with within the ANC. The advantage of the identity vote momentum in KZN being on the side of a Zuma-led advance to redefine the trajectory of the liberation movement ideals the MK Party argues have been abandoned, cannot be discounted as a factor to the possible growth of the party.

 

The contradictory notion of the Zulu nation within the South African Nation State, what King MisuZulu Ka Zwelithini calls 'uZulu omnyama' in his speeches, has contributed to the 'nation' laying a claim of perpetual representation in national politics. The ritual was so strong that the 'nation's Prime Minister' almost derailed the national accord if it did not recognise the Zulu Monarchy at the level at which it is currently being treated. 

 

The impact of the Jacob Zuma arrest in July 2021 remains the single indicator of how the 'nation' continues to see Jacob Zuma in the South African 'national' scheme of things. The 'insurrection', planned or otherwise, was not an echo but a voice of discontent at how the system treated 'one of the 'nation's leaders. The content of the voice needs to be managed in how the state and the governing parties respond. Many analysts warned that the cost of the reaction will be felt for years. 

 

The establishment of the MK party, albeit not an ethnic party, and the reasons for its establishment are national and have legitimacy in the parlance of renewal, may easily assume an ethnic character given the natural constituency Jacob Zuma commands in the vacuum left by Buthelezi in the 'nation'. The palace tensions will keep the monarchy at bay, and the delays in appointing the 'nation's' prime minister will leave a vacuum only a property branded Zulu-speaking leader such as Zuma can occupy. This would not even be by design but by fate. 

 

The reported growth of the MK Party in KZN, and looked at from another angle, is confirmatory to the Buthelezi edict that "so long as the Zulu people are here, clearly I will still have a role in this country". The previous two conferences of the ANC had this dynamic as a substrate and context of the contestations. Without relegating the in-ANC discontent about Ramaphosa and vitiating the unfolding of the new state capture, the new MK Party will have to work hard and convince South Africans that it is not pursuing a Gatsharist strategy. They must act in a way that makes us comfortable that theirs is "so long as the South African people are here, clearly, they will still have a role in this country". CUT!!

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