SOWETO – IFP leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi has proposed that Human Rights Day should be named after black consciousness leader Robert Sobukwe.
On Thursday, his party celebrated this day, which also coincides with its birthday, by launching its Gauteng manifesto in Soweto.
The 90-year-old IFP leader is not afraid to beat his own drum.
He claims that when he was Minister of Home Affairs in Nelson Mandela’s Cabinet, he developed a migration policy that opened South Africa’s door to investment and skills, and closed it to illegal migration.
He says this floundered when an ANC minister took over in 2004.
Buthelezi also says it was up to him to propose public holidays, and he felt the 21 March should be one to remember the fight for human rights for all South Africans.
Buthelezi also claims the IFP was the only party which wanted to see human rights enshrined in the Constitution because the ANC felt it would never infringe on anyone’s rights and the National Party was too concerned about the transfer of power to care.