Inkatha Freedom Party - Gavin Woods Report

Gavin Woods Report

Gavin Woods, one of the party's most respected MPs, drew up a highly critical 11 page internal discussion document at the request of the parliamentary caucus after a discussion in October 2004. In it he said that the IFP

has no discernible vision, mission or philosophical base, no clear national ambitions or direction, no articulated ideological basis and offers little in the way of current, vibrant original and relevant policies. Woods also warned the party that it must treat Buthelezi as the leader of a political party and not the political party itself.

Woods pinpointed 1987 as the year when the IFP started losing ground as a political force. Before 1987, Woods contends, the party had a strong, unambiguous national identity.

At the first caucus discussion, Woods read out the 11-page paper in full and caucus members were generally positive about its frank nature. IFP president Mangosuthu Buthelezi was absent from that meeting but raised it at a meeting of the party's national council, which Woods did not attend.

At a subsequent caucus meeting where both were present, Buthelezi read from a prepared statement attacking Woods. All the numbered copies were ordered to be "shredded" but some survived.