Canaan Mdletshe

Canaan Mdletshe

The IFP's youth wing has urged the Young Communist League to stop spreading propaganda about other political leaders.

The IFP Youth Brigade (IFPYB) was responding to Young Communist League (YCL) calls for IFP president Mangosuthu Buthelezi and other senior IFP leaders to be prosecuted for apartheid-era "atrocities" along with former apartheid law and order minister Adriaan Vlok and former police chief Johann van der Merwe.

NEC member of the IFPYB, Sibusiso Phakathi, said the YCL call yesterday was "an insult".

"We would like to warn these new kids, the YCL, to stop accusing our leader of perpetrating violence. At no stage has Buthelezi been involved in violence.

"Instead, he preached peace and actually condemned the black-on-black violence," he said.

"We expect the young communists to invest their time formulating a clear policy on youth development, rather than spreading propaganda about other political leaders."

YCL national deputy secretary Khaye Nkwanyana said their call was not propaganda, but "well-documented realities of the past".

"We have it in a document. That's why people like Joe Mamasela and other askaris kept on mentioning his name when applying for amnesty.

"Buthelezi was called to elaborate on the claims, but he did not because he undermined the process of the TRC," he said.

"Many people testified to have been paid salaries by the KwaZulu government, which was led by Buthelezi, to kill people, " he said.

He said the YCL wanted the National Prosecuting Authority's investigating wing to "get to the bottom" of the black-on-black violence that left scores of people dead and others orphaned.