Mangosuthu Buthelezi, the Zulu nationalist who positioned himself as Nelson Mandela’s most powerful Black rival in South Africa’s tortuous transformation from a white segregationist society to a multiracial democracy in the 1990s, died on Saturday.
His death was announced in a statement by President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa.
Proud, ambitious, descended from royalty and intolerant of criticism, Mr. Buthelezi was a hereditary chief of the Zulus, South Africa’s largest ethnic group.
Like his battle-hardened ancestors, who had challenged colonial invaders in the 19th century, Mr. Buthelezi sometimes wore leopard skins and wielded assegai spears, but only in ritual war dances for political advantage.
He was also the prime minister of KwaZulu, the homeland of six million Zulus, and the founder of the Inkatha Freedom Party, a Zulu political and cultural movement with 1.9 million members.
Persons:
Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Nelson, Cyril Ramaphosa of, Buthelezi, ”, goh, de Klerk, Mandela
Organizations:
Zulu, Freedom Party
Locations:
South, Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa, South Africa, KwaZulu, Zulu