Inkatha Freedom Party in the context of "African National Congress"

The Republic of South Africa is a unitary parliamentary democratic republic. The President of South Africa serves both as head of state and as head of government. The President is elected by the National Assembly (the lower house of the South African Parliament) and must retain the confidence of the Assembly in order to remain in office. South Africans also elect provincial legislatures which govern each of the country's nine provinces.

Since the end of apartheid in 1994, the African National Congress (ANC) has dominated South Africa's politics. The ANC is the ruling party in the national legislature, as well as in most provinces. The ANC received 40.18% of the vote during the 2024 general election. The main challenger to the ANC's rule is the Democratic Alliance (DA), led by John Steenhuisen, which received 21.81% of the vote in the 2024 election. Other major political parties represented in Parliament includes uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK Party), Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) and the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). The formerly dominant New National Party (NNP), which both introduced and ended apartheid through its predecessor the National Party (NP), disbanded in 2005 to merge with the ANC.

KwaZulu was a semi-independent Bantustan in South Africa, intended by the apartheid government as a homeland for the Zulu people. The capital was moved from Nongoma to Ulundi in 1980.

It was led until its abolition in 1994 by Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi and head of Inkatha, who implemented the limited self-governing powers decided by the South African government as part of apartheid, but rejected the nominal independence which four other homelands accepted, complaining about the fragmented nature of the state, and the inability of the apartheid government to consolidate a viable and contiguous territory for KwaZulu, in the face of stiff resistance from whites. F. W. de Klerk later commented in an interview that he believed that Buthelezi would have accepted independence had his homeland been given the port of Richards Bay, a proposal that failed due to the white population's resistance to the idea.

The Province of Natal (Afrikaans: Natalprovinsie), commonly called Natal, was a province of South Africa from May 1910 until May 1994. Its capital was Pietermaritzburg. During this period rural areas inhabited by the black African population of Natal were organised into the Bantustan of KwaZulu, which was progressively separated from the province, becoming partially autonomous in 1981. For the significant population of Indian South Africans residing in Natal, the third-largest city of Durban was organised for them. Of the white population mostly in the largest city of Johannesburg, the majority were English-speaking people of British descent, causing Natal to become the only province to vote "No" to the creation of a republic in the referendum of 1960, due to very strong monarchist, pro-British Commonwealth, and anti-secessionist sentiment. In the latter part of the 1980s, Natal was in a state of violence between the Inkatha Freedom Party and the African National Congress, with violence subsiding soon after the first non-racial election in 1994.

In 1994, the KwaZulu Bantustan was reincorporated into the territory of Natal and the province was redesignated as KwaZulu-Natal.

Prince Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi (/ˌmæŋɡoʊˈsuːtuː ˈɡætʃə ˌbʊtəˈleɪzi/; 27 August 1928 – 9 September 2023) was a South African politician and Zulu prince who served as the traditional prime minister to the Zulu royal family from 1954 until his death in 2023. He was appointed to this post by King Bhekuzulu, the son of King Solomon kaDinuzulu (a brother to Buthelezi's mother Princess Magogo kaDinuzulu).

Buthelezi was chief minister of the KwaZulu bantustan during apartheid and founded the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in 1975, leading it until 2019, and became its president emeritus soon after that. He was a political leader during Nelson Mandela's incarceration (1964–1990) and continued to be so in the post-apartheid era, when he was appointed by Mandela as Minister of Home Affairs, serving from 1994 to 2004.

This is a list of political parties in South Africa. For most of its recent history, South Africa has functioned as a democratic state but with a one-party dominant system, with the African National Congress (ANC) as the governing party. Following the 2024 general election this dominance has declined, as a result the country has been governed by a ten-member coalition called the Government of National Unity consisting of the ANC, Democratic Alliance (DA), Patriotic Alliance, Inkatha Freedom Party, Good, Pan Africanist Congress of Azania, Freedom Front Plus, United Democratic Movement, Al Jama-ah, and Rise Mzansi. The DA governs the Western Cape Province and a number of municipalities, some in coalitions with smaller parties.

The third cabinet of Cyril Ramaphosa, also known as the Government of National Unity (GNU), is the incumbent cabinet of the Government of South Africa. It was appointed on 30 June 2024 after the May 2024 general election resulted in a hung parliament. Ramaphosa's African National Congress (ANC), having lost its absolute majority, formed a ten-member coalition government.

The coalition was formed on 14 June 2024, when the Democratic Alliance, Inkatha Freedom Party, and Patriotic Alliance joined the ANC in supporting Ramaphosa's election to a second full term as President of South Africa. All four original members of the coalition are represented in the cabinet, as are three later entrants, the Good Party, Pan Africanist Congress, and Freedom Front Plus. The United Democratic Movement and Al Jama-ah are represented by deputy ministers, and Rise Mzansi participates in the legislative coalition but is not represented in the national executive.

The 35th Inkatha Freedom Party National General Conference was held from 23 to 25 August 2019 to elect the new leadership of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP). The previous elective conference was held in 2012. Party president Mangosuthu Buthelezi had announced his intention to retire after serving in the position for more than forty-four years. He was the party's inaugural president. It was understood that the party's IFP Extended National Council favoured the Leader of the Opposition in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature, Velenkosini Hlabisa, to succeed him as party president. Hlabisa was elected unopposed.

Velenkosini Fiki Hlabisa (born 4 January 1965) is a South African politician and former teacher who is currently serving as Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in the Government of National Unity (GNU) since June 2024. He has been President of the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) since 2019 and a member of South Africa's National Assembly where he serves as his party's leader since October 2023. He previously served as the Secretary-General of the IFP from 2011 to 2017, as the Mayor of the Big Five Hlabisa Local Municipality from 2016 to 2019 and as the Leader of the Opposition in the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature between 2019 and 2023.

He currently serves as the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.