Boko Haram, Al-Shabab have common elements: Analyst

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Nigeria's Islamist Boko Haram
leader Abubakar Shekau.(REUTERS)

Senior Lecturer and academic leader for International and Public Affairs in the School of Politics at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Bhekithemba Mngomezulu says the origins of Boko Haram and Al-Shabab have common elements.

Boko Haram means: An Islamic jihadist organisation based in Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon.

Al-Shabab means: "The youth", an al-Qaeda-linked Islamic militant organisation based in Somalia.

Speaking on SAfm Forum@8, Mngomezulu says both extremist groups have an element of ‘thugurism’. He says in some instances these groups kill fellow Muslims.

"If you look at the manner they operate (Boko Haram and Al-Shabab), not only do they kill Christians, but they also kill fellow Muslims who don’t have their vision of the Islamic religion," adds Mngomezulu.

More than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls remain missing after they were abducted by Boko Haram.

Last week, the leader of the rebel group, Abubakar Shekau said he will release the kidnapped girls by his fighters last month in exchange for prisoners.

Militants fighting for an Islamist state stormed a secondary school in the north eastern village of Chibok on April 14 and seized 276 girls who were taking exams. Some managed to escape.
Meanwhile, a bomb blasts killed at least 118 people and wounded 45 in the crowded business district of the central Nigerian city of Jos on Tuesday, emergency services said, in an attack that appeared to bear the hallmarks of the Boko Haram insurgents.

The blasts took place in Terminus, the downtown area of Jos housing shops, some offices and a market. The explosions burned several shops to the ground, shattering windows and spreading rubble in the road.

Police sirens wailed as officers rushed to the scene. Mngomezulu says most of the problems taking place in Africa, are sustained by the international community.

He says, "They identify how these groups operate and then they strike secret deals with these groups, and then arm them."- Edited by Sthembiso Sithole and Additional Reporting by Reuters.
Click here to listen to Dr Bhekithemba Mngomezulu.

This article first appeared on SABCNews site. It was done by Sthembiso Sithole.

Numsa wants out from ANC alliance: Jim

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Numsa's Irvin Jim. (SABC)

National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa (Numsa) general secretary Irvin Jim says the alliance with the African National Congress (ANC) is not working out. He says they want out from the alliance.

Speaking on SAfm's Forum@8, he says Numsa has taken a conscious decision that it is time that the working class should organise itself as a class.

Jim says, "Workers actually took a decision in a democratic fashion. Workers said that for all the years we have voted for the ANC, we spent money. The workers said that "your leadership led us to believe that all things will be addressed and that there shall be a new growth path. The workers gave us a tight mandate; do away with e-tolls and ban labour brokers."

Workers told Numsa’s leadership that it’s time to form a United Front

He says the turning point was the adoption of the National Development Plan in Mangaung. In Numsa's 2013 secretariat report, it highlights their stance on several issues and the NDP is one of the issues.

It states that: "The ANC has made it clear that the National Development Plan will be a cornerstone of its 2014 manifesto. We have identified the National Development Plan as a fundamentally neo-liberal document since we first responded to the analysis document that preceded it. We have been absolutely clear, since the ANC adopted the Plan at Mangaung, that we regard it as a direct assault on the working class."

He says workers told Numsa’s leadership that it’s time to form a United Front.

"We have taken two fundamental resolutions; firstly we will continue to persuade Cosatu affiliates and workers that it is time that we take a decision that this alliance is dead. This alliance with the ANC is not working. The second thing that workers said was that now it is time to form a united front. We need to build a popular movement in the form of united front," says Jim.


 
Click here to listen to Irvin Jim on their plans to form a United Front.


Numsa didn’t support the ruling party in last week’s general elections. Jim says workers democratically said: "We shall not campaign for the ANC."

He says people want to condemn Numsa for embarking on a democratic process.

Click here listen to Irvin Jim on Cosatu.

On President Jacob Zuma, he says under Zuma’s leadership, there have been scandals after scandals. He says people must accept that Zuma is just deployed.

"I think people must accept that President Jacob Zuma is just a deployee just like all the deployees of the liberation alliance that we have been part of. You want to tell us that occupying the centre of power that he occupies; he knows nothing about Nkandla and the Gupta plane landing at the airforce base. We are undermined, why should we accept that?"

Click here to read some of the comments on social media about :Numsa to form United Front

This article was first published on SABCNews site. It was done by Sthembiso Sithole.

IFP confident of victory in 2014 polls

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IFP's Albert Mncwango. (www.uj.ac.za)

Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)'s deputy national chairperson, Albert Mncwango, says they are going to surprise a lot of people in the upcoming elections.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with SABC
Digital News, he says they are hopeful that after May 7 the IFP will gain more support in KwaZulu-Natal.

Mncwango adds: "I was in Nongoma and I welcomed 200 former members of the IFP who defected to the NFP before, who are coming back. I am hopeful that after the elections, a totally different picture will emerge."

Click here to listen to the full interview with IFP's deputy national chairperson, Albert Mncwango.

He says the party suffered a setback after former IFP chairperson Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi formed her new party, the National Freedom Party (NFP), which was officially launched on February 12, 2011.

The formation of the party came as no surprise as kaMagwaza-Msibi had several run-ins with the IFP leadership over a viable succession plan within the ailing KZN-based party.

The party contested its first election on May 18 when it participated in the 2011 Local Government Elections (LGE). In the election, the party managed to win 2.4% of the vote, two councils and 224 council seats. In KZN, the party entered into formal coalitions with the African National Congress (ANC) in 19 hung councils.

Mncwango says, "It is true we have been experiencing a downward trend during the past three or four elections, but we now understand what has been happening."

He also points out that the issue of adequate resources such as funding has been a problem to the party.

Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi, meanwhile, says the race between the IFP and NFP will be interesting in the upcoming elections.

He says, "My assessment though is that the NFP won’t gain sufficiently to undermine the IFP as the number two political party in KZN. But if the NFP emerges as the second largest party in KZN that would spell disaster for the IFP with regard to future elections."

He says what was the IFP’s support in 1994 or even in 1999 is now spread in three ways, those voters are found in the ANC then the IFP and then the NFP.

Click here to listen to Political analyst Aubrey Matshiqi.


The 2004 election saw the IFP lose its 30 years of dominance in KwaZulu-Natal to the ANC. The graph below shows how the IFP has been performing in the previous elections both nationally and in KZN.






IFP draws its support largely from Zulu-speaking South Africans. Its strongholds are the rural areas of KZN and the migrant workers’ hostels in the metropolitan areas of Gauteng.

Mangosuthu Buthelezi has led the IFP since he founded it as the Inkatha National Cultural Liberation Movement in 1975. His political career dates back to the 1940s, when he joined the ANC Youth League while studying at Fort Hare University.

Inkatha was transformed into a political party in July 1990, championing federalism as the best political option for South Africa. The IFP believes in integrating traditional leadership into the system of governance by recognising traditional communities as models of societal organisation.

In the past, there have been calls for him to step down, but Buthelezi has maintained that he wouldn’t leave the party while it’s facing problems.

"A lot of damage has been done to the IFP. I need to step aside, like all other people of my age, but I can't leave when the party is facing so much challenges. I would be a coward if I leave now. I have not decided to continue but at the same time I am forced to stay on because of the problems faced by the IFP. I am caught between a rock and a hard place," said Buthelezi in 2012.

Mncwango shares the same sentiments with his leader - he says Buthelezi is still managing a transition. He says the party required Buthelezi to stay on, more than three times when he had wanted to retire.

Click here for more on Mncwango's interview.


This article was first published on SABCNews site.It was done by Sthembiso Sithole.