The Prime Minister of the Zulu Royal House and South African MP Mangosuthu Buthelezi died today at the age of 95after a life marked by his controversial role during the segregationist apartheid regime and the country’s democratic transition, reported the South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa.
“Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi has been an outstanding leader in the political and cultural life of our nation, including the ups and downs of our liberation struggle, the transition that enabled our freedom in 1994 and our democratic administration,” Ramaphosa said through the social network X (formerly Twitter).
According to a statement released by the family and reported by local media, the politician, who underwent a medical procedure for back pain and had to remain in the hospital after a complication, he died “peacefully and without pain.”
Born in 1928 in what is now the province of KwaZulu-Natal (east), Buthelezi founded the Zulu nationalist Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and was part of Nelson Mandela’s first national unity governmentemerged in 1994, after the country’s first democratic elections.
The politician was Minister of the Interior alongside Mandela, a position he later held in the administration of his successor, Thabo Mbeki – The Best Of Thabo Mbekiand until 2004, despite constant tensions between the IFP and the ruling African National Congress (ANC).