Celebrating 39 years of dedication: Daniel Zungu’s legacy at the IFP
Durban — “Loyalty and dedication are what sustained me for 39 years.”
Those words were spoken by Daniel Zungu, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) financial manager and longest-serving administration employee.
A true KwaZulu-Natal born and bred, Zungu was born in KwaDlangezwa near Empangeni. He attended his early schooling at Khandisa Primary School and moved to Dlangezwa High School, uThukela High School and Khombindlela High School. He earned a diploma in bookkeeping and accounts.
The second-born of five siblings holds a diploma in Finance Management from Damelin College with the help of the IFP.
The journey began for Zungu in the printing department when he was 22 years old back in 1985.
“I was just a 22-year-old when I started working here but, the IFP has trained me in various aspects of administration and finance, and tasked me with great responsibilities over the years,” said Zungu.
“Back then we only had one office of the IFP in the whole country, that dealt with all the party’s administration, and it was based in Ulundi,” recalled the now 61-year-old Zungu.
Reminiscing on the party’s early years, Zungu remembered how they did a lot of travelling on the back of an Isuzu bakkie, the party’s only vehicle for transporting copies of speeches for distribution.
“There was a lot of travelling that we did back in those days, the party was also growing at such a fast rate, and for us, we had no social media to mobilise people with, all the work that went into growing the party, was done on the ground in those many rallies that we held around the country to reach out to people.”
Zungu fondly remembers how the party’s card-carrying membership was sitting at a staggering 1.5 million in 1986. A huge milestone for a party that was just barely 11 years old, and during the height of apartheid.
In remembering all the good times and major moments at the party, Bab’Zungu as he is affectionately known by his colleagues, also remembers the painful times in the party’s history.
“2011 is the worst, I have experienced in the party. We lost so many members in 2011 the IFP membership was at its lowest since the party’s inception in 1975. I remember during that time we only ran two municipalities, those were hard times, but they shaped us to what we are today.”
Speaking on milestones, Zungu married his wife of 34 years, Hlengiwe Mngomezulu in 1990 and they have been blessed with two daughters and a son – Samukelisiwe, Sethabile and Lihlithemba.
“All the major milestones and moments I have had in my life, all happened when I was already an employee of this organisation,” Zungu said.
When asked about what has sustained him for close to four decades, Zungu said: “Loyalty and knowing my place within the party and understanding that my position is within the administration and not politics.”
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