Professor Herbert Vilakazi laments as "an error in political judgment" the rejection by the Black Consciousness Movement of Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi as a struggle hero.

Like all other Bantustans, Buthelezi's acceptance of and participation as Chief Minister in the KwaZulu homeland gave credence to the apartheid regime's separate development policies which perpetuated the marginalisation of the country's majority while ensuring the prosperity of the minority.

The reason Vilakazi, Ngubane and all other Bantustan supporters of the time were free to roam the world was because the apartheid system used them to convince the world that "freedom of speech and political movement" existed in South Africa.

If it is true that Buthelezi had the blessings of Mandela, Sisulu and the entire ANC, then the real "error of judgment" and double standards were on their part.

Mandela's rejection of the so-called homelands from the early stages created a wedge between him and his nephew Kaiser Matanzima.

How could he and the rest of the ANC leadership have then supported Matanzima's colleague to do in Natal what they were opposed to elsewhere?

Matthews Nxasana,

Johannesburg