Zulu leader speaks out on Aids crisis after son's death

The leading South African opposition politician Mangosuthu Buthelezi announced at the weekend that his son had died of Aids.

The leader of the Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom party (IFP) spoke at the funeral of his son, Prince Nelisuzulu Benedict Buthelezi, 53, who died last Wednesday. After a tribute to his "son of Africa", Mr Buthelezi said, "I reach out to all the people whose family members have died of Aids. My son did."

Mr Buthelezi's admission before thousands of mourners, including political and community leaders, was a typically forthright stand by the politician who has been critical of President Thabo Mbeki's quiet policy towards Aids.

But it will surprise many South Africans who are unused to their leaders speaking publicly about a disease that infects an estimated 5 million people in the country.

Mr Buthelezi has frequently criticised Mr Mbeki's reluctance to accept the full magnitude of the Aids crisis and offer treatment to sufferers.

"I come here moved by the pain of a father who has lost his beloved son," Mr Buthelezi said at the funeral. "I feel the pain of any father and mother across our land at this tragic hour of history. I feel the pain for the many children of Africa who are now dying an untimely and terrible death. I am in mourning.

"We are a nation which ought to be in mourning. So many people have died or will need to follow them. As I feel the pain of the death of my own son, I hear the cries and laments of South Africa."

Mr Buthelezi spoke days after he was axed from Mr Mbeki's cabinet and his Inkatha party ended its 10-year alliance with the ruling African National Congress. His speech signalled that he intends to remain an outspoken figure.

A close aide to Mr Buthelezi said yesterday that the Zulu leader was "free for the first time in his life ... because he was always beholden to the ANC presidency, and before that to the homeland system of apartheid".

The 75-year-old is one of the great survivors of politics. He was described by one observer as being "capable of switching between unbridled charm and ruthless bellicosity".

No other leader of the numerous semi-independent "bantustans" of the apartheid regime managed to remain a prominent political figure once South Africa became a multi-party democracy.

A Zulu chief, Mr Buthelezi was once a member of the ANC, but became a critic of the organisation during the 1980s. He denounced the armed struggle against apartheid and the ANC's backing for international sanctions. In return, he was sponsored by successive white-minority governments as chief minister of KwaZulu.

In the early years of South Africa's majority rule, violence between Mr Buthelezi's Zulu supporters and those of the ANC soared. An estimated 12,000 died in clashes in the KwaZulu-Natal province.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) later accused Inkatha of collaborating with white supremacists to carry out gross human rights violations, prompting an angry response from the IFP. Publication of the TRC's final report in 2003 was delayed until changes were made at the insistence of Mr Buthelezi's party. He denies ever authorising or condoning abuses.