Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) - September 12, 2003

He was speaking at Thursday's first joint parliamentary caucus meeting between the IFP and the opposition Democratic Alliance - a step towards what may become a formal cooperation agreement for the 2004 election. The parties are already working together in KwaZulu-Natal, where they signed a non-aggression pact ahead of the defection period earlier this year.

"A one-party state is a very imminent threat to our democracy ... Even though there may be no cure for a one-party state, there is a prophylactic. We are the prophylactic which our democracy needs to avoid capturing the one-party state flu," said Buthelezi.

The veteran politician and home affairs minister touted the blossoming love affair between the IFP and the DA as an opportunity to give the electorate the hope that it "may have the concrete possibility of choosing among at least two political parties that have the capacity and viability of ruling South Africa".

With the DA still smarting from the divorce from its former alliance partner, the New National Party, there was no talk of mergers at the joint meeting. Instead the DA and IFP committed themselves to working together on five key points - HIV/Aids, unemployment, poverty in rural areas and urban shack settlements, crime and corruption - and to presenting a united front in Parliament, particularly on legislation, such as the new Gambling Bill, that seeks to limit provincial powers.

Over the past year the IFP and DA have warmed to each other, with their leaders putting in an appearance at each other's congresses. First signs of a possible 2004 electoral pact emerged in January. DA approaches to other parties, such as the United Democratic Movement, were rejected.

But if DA leader Tony Leon had hoped for a backer in his attacks on the government he was disappointed. "It has not all been bad," said Buthelezi. "Indeed, we must be big enough and wise enough to acknowledge that the ANC has performed very well in many respects ... Without this being acknowledged, what we have to say will lack credibility."

These remarks indicate the careful balancing act Buthelezi has pursued over nine years: while he has criticised the government's performance, notably its dilly-dallying on HIV/Aids, he has also been at pains to insist he was a loyal servant of government.

Meanwhile, the IFP is said to be considering its exit from government. Aside from home affairs, it holds the correctional services and arts, culture, science and technology portfolios and several deputy minister posts.

Yet relations with the ruling party have been frosty for a long time and home affairs has repeatedly been a political football in battles over legislation such as the Immigration Act. Relations soured further this week over ANC claims that Buthelezi was responsible for delaying the Electoral Laws Amendment Bill, needed to hold the 2004 poll. Buthelezi has rejected this allegation, insisting the hold-up occurred at Cabinet level.

Speculation about Buthelezi's disenchantment with his Cabinet role surfaces regularly. He was said to be unhappy about being overruled on his choice of home affairs director general, and about the fact that the Cabinet decided to retain the proportional representation voting system after accepting the minority report of the electoral review task team he had established.On Thursday Buthelezi maintained that cooperation between the IFP and DA could imbue voters with hope and make it possible to cut the ANC's two-thirds majority to less than 50% in next year's poll.

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