South Africa: In one of the most unusual alliances of this year's general election, South Africa's Zulu-based Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) has signed a co-operation agreement with the right-wing Afrikaner-supported Freedom Front.
The IFP said yesterday it would work with the Freedom Front to stop any party gaining the two-thirds majority needed to alter the constitution - a reference to the ruling African National Congress (ANC), which is expected to do well in the April 14th polls.
"It would be erroneous for anyone to try to ascribe ideological value to this co-operation," IFP president Mr Mangosuthu Buthelezi said in a statement.
"The consolidation of power in a ruling party, to the point that our constitution could be changed . . . at a whim, constitutes a great threat to our freedom."
At a provincial level the IFP is locked in battle with the ANC for control of KwaZulu-Natal province in a campaign that has been marred by sporadic political violence. Nationally, the ANC is expected to score close to a two-thirds majority.
Analysts said the deal was not out of place in a country where the ANC rules Western Cape province with the New National Party, successors to the former apartheid government.
"I don't think anyone takes these agreements very seriously," said Witswatersrand University politics professor Mr Tom Lodge. "The ANC . . . will probably form a coalition with Inkatha (after the election) despite the bad blood recently."
The Freedom Front, which has just three seats in the 400-seat parliament, seeks more Afrikaner autonomy, while the IFP, with 31 deputies, has a largely black Zulu nationalist agenda. - (Reuters)