Truth about Heritage Day
MR Barney Mthombothi has never hidden his contempt for me and the IFP. It seems a steady diet of propaganda gave him a weak stomach for the truth. But facts of history can easily be checked.
In his “Bending the knee to the Zulu king will do little to heal SA” (October 2), he claimed “Heritage Day was initiated by the IFP”, retained “as part of the compromise at Codesa”, and remains “Shaka’s Day in KwaZulu-Natal”. None of this is true. In April 1972, the then KwaZulu Legislative Assembly declared September 24 a public holiday in KwaZulu: King Shaka Day.
In 1994, the minister of home affairs assumed responsibility for determining public holidays in a democratic South Africa. As the minister, I appointed a task team to make recommendations.
I explained the background to King Shaka Day, celebrated only in KwaZulu, and the task team recommended that September 24 be proclaimed national Heritage Day.
When I took this recommendation to the cabinet, president Nelson Mandela remarked that September 24 is King Shaka Day. But we all agreed to a compromise that would include all South Africans.
The Zulu nation welcomed this effort at social inclusivity. Yet we felt the commemoration of King Shaka should not become something generic, depriving future generations of a sense of identity. Thus, in consultation with the king, we decided to separate Heritage Day from the day on which we commemorate King Shaka.
Only recently did the provincial government start organising one event, commemorating King Shaka on Heritage Day.
Perhaps Mr Mthombothi could find out why. — Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Mahlabathini