Hon Speaker, the repeal of the Black Authorities Act is very welcome news to the IFP. This was the cornerstone of all divisive statutes of the apartheid regime for it not only discriminated against blacks, but also divided one ethnic group from another. No wonder that all blacks, excluding those who were beneficiaries from the system, rejected it with contempt.
Despite the rejection, Dr Verwoerd, as the architect of Bantustan policy, travelled throughout the country selling his policy. He arrived in Nongoma in October 1955 to address some 300 Zulu amakhosi who had been invited by paramount Chief Cyprian Bhekuzulu to listen to the message of Dr Verwoerd. After the delivery of the message, Prince Buthelezi of KwaPhindangene, as one of the three spokespersons selected by the paramount chief to respond on behalf of the Zulu nation, confronted the fearsome Dr Verwoerd and bluntly told him that the Bantustan policy was not acceptable to the Zulus.
This catapulted Prince Buthelezi to the centre stage of national politics, and the Zulu nation sent emissaries to persuade him to serve in the atrocious system in order to fight it from within. He was also urged by icons of the ANC, Chief Albert Luthuli and Mr O R Tambo, to consider these requests positively. Although opposed to the system, he eventually accepted the offer, and for 20 years - between 1970 and 1990 - he relentlessly fought apartheid in spite of insults and vilification. He was rewarded in 1990 when the then State President, Mr de Klerk, bowed under pressure from Prince Buthelezi and other freedom fighters and dismantled apartheid, to usher in a democratic dispensation through negotiation - an instrument which Prince Buthelezi had always advocated.
Accordingly, the IFP supports the repeal and maintains that it is long overdue. I thank you. [Applause.]