Velaphi Ndlovu

Velaphi Bethuel Ndlovu (born 25 June 1948) is a South African politician from KwaZulu-Natal. He represented the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) in the National Assembly and KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature for two decades from 1994 to 2014. During apartheid, he was a member of the KwaZulu Legislative Assembly, serving the Imbali 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 in the Natal Midlands; he also chaired Inkatha's regional branch in Imbali.

Political violence During the late apartheid period, the region was severely affected by political violence between Inkatha supporters and supporters of the rival African National Congress (ANC) and United Democratic Front (UDF).

It's defence. Because if there was no attacker there would be no revenge. Revenge killing is not acceptable in the [Inkatha] policy but what can you do if your house is burnt down and the law won't do anything about that? You revenge yourself so he won't come back again... It can be the teeth [as weapons] – everything – as long as they are defending themselves, because life comes once, not twice. — Ndlovu on retaliatory killings, October 1987 He served four terms as a legislator from the IFP, primarily in the National Assembly. The exception was a stint in the KwaZulu-Natal Provincial Legislature 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.