Scientology's Links to the Inkatha Freedom Party

A.R.S. Post

Note: URLs updated

Subject: Scientology/Inkatha Links
Author: keshet <keshet@cyberpass.net>
Date: 1999/06/19
Forum: alt.religion.scientology
Msg-ID: <7kf88e$108m@enews1.newsguy.com>

Scientology's Links to the Inkatha Freedom Party

Influential people were to be approached by Scientology "front groups", their links with the Church of Scientology concealed…

This is old news to regular readers but worth a second look (or first, for newbies and occasional readers).

I came upon an interesting newspaper article from 1997, portions of which are reproduced below (indented), suggesting there are close ties between Scientology and South Africa's Inkatha Freedom Party. That's the political party of Mangosuthu Buthelezi, Minister of Home Affairs under Nelson Mandela (I don't know if Mr. Buthelezi has been offered a post by the newly elected president Thabo Mbeki).

The article appears in the South African newspaper Mail and Guardian and was included in the ARS Week in Review for 16 Mar 1997.
<http:// www.xenu.net/ archive/ WIR/ wir1-45.html#10>

Scientology's IFP links

Johannesburg (Mail and Guardian, February 28, 1997) — The controversial Church of Scientology has bestowed a "freedom medal" on Lawrence Anthony, KwaZulu-Natal businessman and confidant of Mangosuthu Buthelezi, shedding new light on the close links between the church and the Inkatha Freedom Party.

The Mail & Guardian reported in November 1994 that Anthony and Businesswise Management Consultants, a management consultancy then run by church member Alan Murray, helped the IFP reorganise its administration before the 1994 elections.

You can read the referenced 1994 article at:
<http:// www.solitarytrees.net/ rnewman/ media/ weeklyma.htm>

The impetus for that story was inside knowledge of the WISE-IFP contract brought to the Mail and Guardian by Kim Baker, then a Scientologist. Ms. Baker was subsequently "declared" (excommunicated) for having the moral convictions that made it impossible for her to ignore Scientology's use of government to further its own "religious" goals. Ms. Baker's "declare" and her commentary can be found at:
<http:// www.snafu.de/ ~tilman/ mystory/ kimsp.txt>

According to that 1994 article, after working with Businesswise to reorganize Inkatha, Anthony "still provided a 'business service' to the party free of charge." Free?? Scientologists don't do anything for free—Church policy mandates there must be "fair exchange". So if not receiving monetary compensation, you can bet Mr. Anthony is getting paid in other ways (governmental influence and/or favors, e.g.).

Murray downplayed the role [of] the Church of Scientology in reorganising the management of the IFP, but the M&G showed that Businesswise was licensed by the World Institute of Scientology Enterprises (Wise) to "disseminate administrative technology" developed by the founder of Scientology, L. Ron Hubbard.

In the 1994 article, Mr. Murray denies that his company has anything to do with Scientology and accuses "if you want to be devious you can say there is a connection." Indeed, Mr. Murray and Mr. Anthony and other WISE representatives are quite devious in minimizing their association with Scientology as they attempted to infiltrate business, government and society in general.

Mr. Murray apparently has not read his WISE license to know that he is expected to disseminate LRH tech. Nor has he read his "church's" own press that flatly states "The Scientology religion is based exclusively upon L. Ron Hubbard's research, writings and recorded lectures — all of which constitute the Scriptures of the religion." Note that the Co$ does not distinguish between secular and religious works; ALL of LRH's output is considered Scripture. Therefore, how can "disseminating LRH tech" be anything but blatant Scientology proselytization?

The WISE license makes this explicit. In Scientology with(out) an End, author Tom Voltz (a former Scientologist and WISE member) quotes the preamble of the WISE license:
<http:// www.solitarytrees.net/ pubs/ swoe/ swoe10.htm>

WISE is a non-profit, religious membership organization, which was founded for the purpose of connecting all companies, all independent professionals and organizations of whichever type, which use the technology of L. Ron Hubbard for administration, business and purposes of improvement, in order to expand and promote the religious teachings of L. Ron Hubbard in society.

Does it get any clearer than this?

<…>

But Impact, the magazine of the International Association of Scientologists (IAS), reported late last year that Anthony had been selected as one of four winners internationally of the 1996 IAS Freedom Medal "for his work in helping his country with LRH tech [Scientology jargon for L. Ron Hubbard technology].

<…>

Impact implies that Anthony had a strong hand in the IFP call for an inquiry into mental institutions: "Lawrence, joining forces with the Citizens' Commission on Human Rights [a Scientology body], then turned his attention to the root of apartheid — psychiatry."

The IAS also produced a video in which David Miscavige declared: "We have been working in South Africa with Minister Buthelezi to get LRH tech in. As a result of this, Buthelezi has now made calls for investigation into mental institutions, and the war against the psychs in South Africa has begun."

But in the 1994 M&G article, Mr. Anthony insists he had nothing to do with the IFP's call for a commission of inquiry, that it came entirely from IFP. The Co$ certainly is taking a lot of credit for something not of its own origination.

What exactly is the relationship between the Church of Scientology and the Inkatha Freedom Party?

Chris Owen points out in his essay "Africa, Clear Continent"
<http:// www.solitarytrees.net/ cowen/ essays/ southafrica.html>
that one of Scientology's methods for clearing the planet is that "Influential people were to be approached by Scientology 'front groups', their links with the Church of Scientology concealed, to offer 'revolutionary new techniques' (Scientology processing under another name) to cure problems ranging from manpower shortages to crime and drug addiction." That seems to be what's happening here.

The Church of Scientology has a long and well documented history of illegal activities, including infiltrating government agencies, stealing official documents, attempting to influence judges, and harassing its critics. For instance,

  • in Greece, Scientologists were found guilty of spying on politicians, journalists, judges, clergymen and others;

  • in Spain, Scientologists, including the President of the Co$ International, Heber Jentzsch, were charged with tax evasion and fraud (among other crimes);

    Note: Charges were dropped in this case.

  • in Canada, Scientology was convicted of "breach of public trust" for the infiltration of government offices and the theft of government documents; and

  • in the United States, a number of high-level Scientologists, including L. Ron Hubbard's wife, were convicted of burglary, forgery and obstruction of justice for their infiltration of the IRS and Department of Justice (among other offices).

Inkatha had better think twice about climbing into bed with Scientology.

Note: I find it most interesting that of the major South African political parties, the Church would align itself with Inkatha. In 1999, Amnesty International's Annual Report stated: "The TRC's (Truth and Reconcilation Commission's) report concluded that most gross human rights violations between 1960 and May 1994 had been committed by 'the former state through its security and law enforcement agencies, and in collusion with certain other political groupings, most notably the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP)', whom the TRC identified as a "major perpetrator of gross human rights violations from 1983".

Keshet

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