Over 30 000 people are expected to attend the Inkatha Freedom Party’s (IFP) 50th birthday rally at the Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi Stadium this weekend.

The IFP was founded by the late Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi on March 21, 1975, in KwaNzimela, Melmoth, in northern KwaZulu-Natal.

It was first known as the Inkatha National Cultural Liberation Movement or Inkatha yeNkululeko yeSizwe.

The party launched its 50th-anniversary celebration programme in Durban a month ago.

IFP Spokesperson Mkhuleko Hlengwa says, “We are having the national prayer day thanksgiving for the long journey that the IFP has traversed over the past 50 years. That service will be at KwaNzimela just outside Melmoth in northern KwaZulu-Natal and then we will proceed on Sunday, the 23rd of March, to Ulundi at the Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi Regional Stadium, where we will be having a rally to celebrate this milestone.”

VIDEO | IFP celebrates 50 years of existence today: