Velaphi Bethuel Ndlovu (born 25 June 1948) is a South African politician from

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

. He represented the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the National Assembly and

KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature The KwaZulu-Natal Legislature is the primary legislative body of the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal. It is unicameral in its composition and elects the premier and the provincial cabinet from among the leading party or coalition members ...

for two decades from 1994 to 2014. During apartheid, he was a member of the KwaZulu Legislative Assembly, serving the

Imbali Imbali is a township in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It is 15 km from Pietermaritzburg, the capital city of KwaZulu-Natal. Imbali was founded in the early 1960s when people were moving away from the rural areas to look for employment in the ...

constituency. He is also a former deputy chairperson of the IFP.

Early life and career

Ndlovu was born on 25 June 1948. During the 1980s, he served in the legislative assembly of the bantustan of KwaZulu, at that time governed by Inkatha (later the IFP). His constituency was Imbali, a township on the outskirts of

Pietermaritzburg Pietermaritzburg (; Zulu: umGungundlovu) is the capital and second-largest city in the province of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. It was founded in 1838 and is currently governed by the Msunduzi Local Municipality. Its Zulu name umGungundlovu ...

in the

Natal Midlands The KwaZulu-Natal midlands is an inland area of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa that starts from Pietermaritzburg and ends before the Drakensberg mountain range. Area There are several small towns located in the midlands, including: Pietermaritzburg, ...

; he also chaired Inkatha's regional branch in Imbali.

Political violence

During the late apartheid period, the region was severely affected by

political violence Political violence is violence which is perpetrated in order to achieve political goals. It can include violence which is used by a state against other states (war), violence which is used by a state against civilians and non-state actors (forced ...

between Inkatha supporters and supporters of the rival African National Congress (ANC) and United Democratic Front (UDF). Ndlovu unabashedly encouraged IFP supporters to use violence against ANC and UDF supporters – or even their relatives – which he described as the only way for them to survive an onslaught initiated by the ANC. He told journalist Matthew Kentridge:

...in the first place when the war was started, Inkatha people didn't want to kill the people, they didn't want to defend themselves because they didn't know what is going on. A chap, he doesn't know the people are coming to kill him, he knows them as neighbours and he sits down with them at his house only to find that he is being killed. When we told our membership that they should defend themselves, when we told them that life comes just once – just once – that’s how the ball has tended to the other side.

In 1987, the ''

Weekly Mail The ''Mail & Guardian'' is a South African weekly newspaper and website, published by M&G Media in Johannesburg, South Africa. It focuses on political analysis, investigative reporting, Southern African news, local arts, music and popular cultu ...

'' quoted Ndlovu as saying, "As far as Inkatha is concerned there is no difference between self-defence and retaliation. It is all one thing."

Post-apartheid career

Upon the end of apartheid in 1994, KwaZulu was absorbed into the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal, and Ndlovu was elected to represent the IFP in the first democratic Parliament. He served four terms as a legislator from the IFP, primarily in the National Assembly. The exception was a stint in the

from August 2002, though he was returned to the National Assembly in the next general election in 2004. He was elected to his fourth and final term in the National Assembly in the 2009 general election. At that time he also served as deputy national chairperson of the IFP. Ndlovu stood for election to a fifth term in the next general election in 2014, but he was ranked ninth on the IFP's regional party list for KwaZulu-Natal and did not win a seat.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ndlovu, Velaphi Living people 21st-century South African politicians 20th-century South African politicians Members of the National Assembly of South Africa 1948 births Inkatha Freedom Party politicians Politicians from KwaZulu-Natal Members of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature