12 Things you don’t know Mangosuthu Buthelezi

1.   Mangosuthu Buthelezi was born to Chief Mathole Buthelezi and Princess Magogo kaDinuzulu, the sister of King Solomon kaDinuzulu.

2.  Mangosuthu Buthelezi was born on 27 August 1928, in Mahlabathini, KwaZulu.

3.  Mangosuthu Buthelezi studied at the University of Fort Hare from 1948 to 1950, where he joined the African National Congress Youth League and came into contact with Robert Mugabe and Robert Sobukwe.

4.  Mangosuthu Buthelezi was expelled from the university after student boycotts. He later completed his degree at the University of Natal.

5.  Mangosuthu Buthelezi inherited the chieftainship of the large Buthelezi tribe in 1953: a position he still holds today.

6.  In 1970, Mangosuthu Buthelezi was appointed leader of the KwaZulu territorial Authority and in 1976 became chief minister of the quasi-independent Bantustan of KwaZulu.

7.  In 1975 Mangosuthu Buthelezi started the IFP with the blessing of the African National Congress, but broke away from the ANC in 1979 and his relationship with the ANC sharply deteriorated. He was encouraged by Oliver Tambo, the then-President of the ANC mission in exile to revive the cultural movement.

8.  Mangosuthu Buthelezi was also instrumental in setting up the teacher training and nursing colleges throughout the late 1970s and the early 1980s.

9.  Mangosuthu Buthelezi requested Harry Oppenheimer, his great friend and ally, to establish Mangosuthu Technikon in Umlazi, south of Durban.

10.  In 1993 Mangosuthu Buthelezi broke the record for the world’s longest-ever speech in an address he gave to the Natal legislature.

11.  In May 1994, Mangosuthu Buthelezi was appointed Minister of Home Affairs in the first post-Apartheid government, a position he continued to hold following the 1999 elections. He was appointed acting president a number of times during this period.

12.  Mangosuthu Buthelezi’s praise name is Shenge