By Norm Dixon
The African National Congress has expressed shock at the revelations that Australian media mogul Kerry Packer donated large sums of money to Chief Mangosuthu Gatsha Buthelezi's Inkatha organisation. Spokesperson Gill Marcus described the Packer donations as "political manipulation".
"If he is funding Inkatha secretly, we would ask if he is using his media network and connections to manipulate the image, the accessibility of organisations ... A man with Kerry Packer's amount of money and resources must be trying to influence people's perspectives about a conflict in which thousands have died."
According to revelations by the London Independent on Sunday, Packer, together with British millionaire John Aspinall, opened a bank account for Buthelezi's exclusive use. The account has earned more than $80,000 in interest since it was opened. Money from this account was used to pay back to the South African government money that had been secretly channelled to Inkatha on the advice of the apartheid regime's security police.
While Packer has refused to comment on his generosity to Buthelezi, Aspinall has been more forthcoming. He confirmed that Packer had provided funds. Aspinall describes himself as being "to the right of Genghis Khan" and has expressed support for Hitler's theories on eugenics, including infanticide to eliminate those who are "defective and extraneous". He has addressed Inkatha rallies in Soweto and once paid for Buthelezi to go on a world tour to raise funds. Packer has attended several functions at Aspinall's mansion in South Africa together with Buthelezi.
In November, Aspinall hosted a private dinner in London at which Buthelezi was guest of honour. The guests included Mark Gordon, executive director of the CIA-linked International Freedom Foundation.
A member of Inkatha's central committee, Walter Felgate, has described Packer as a "close personal friend of Chief Buthelezi of many years standing". Buthelezi also recently met with Canadian newspaper owner Conrad Black, who is in partnership with Packer in his bid to buy the Fairfax newspaper group in Australia.
The Fairfax newspapers have generally been more critical of the de Klerk government than its Rupert Murdoch-owned rivals. Murdoch was a special guest at the recent lavish wedding of Packer's daughter. Acquisition of the Fairfax newspapers by the Black-Packer consortium might therefore be a threat to even the semblance of a variety of opinions in the Australian commercial press.
Such fears are not held by the Australian government, it seems, nor is it concerned that Packer has funded an organisation actively involved in mass murder. Foreign minister Gareth Evans was quoted in the Age as saying: "Mr Packer is ... thoroughly entitled to make his own judgment and his own decisions as to who he supports where". Evans added that the funding of Inkatha should not be a factor in judging Packer's bid for the Fairfax newspapers.
Prime Minister Bob Hawke, who counts Packer as a good friend, and the minister responsible for overseeing Australia's media, Kim Beazley, refused to comment on either the donations or the implications for the Fairfax bid.