PRETORIA : Not Exactly One on One
Nelson Mandela and Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi, the country’s two most prominent black leaders, are scheduled to meet Friday to discuss ways of ending a township war between their supporters that has claimed nearly 800 lives near Johannesburg since mid-August.
But the landmark meeting is no sure thing. The African National Congress is angered by Buthelezi’s recent reference to its members as “murderers and hypocrites.”
And Buthelezi, who has pleaded dozens of times for a meeting with Mandela, isn’t happy because Mandela also has invited other leaders of self-governing homelands. Buthelezi wants a one-on-one meeting with Mandela, and he wants to be invited as leader of the Inkatha Freedom Party, not as a homeland leader.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
