At least 400 Inkatha Freedom Party protestors gathered in two KwaZulu-Natal locations on Wednesday in protest against a history text book which the party says destroys the legacy of its leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi.

By 10am on Wednesday at least 300 had gathered in Port Shepstone on the KwaZulu-Natal south coast while another 100 converged in Bergville in northern KwaZulu-Natal. Police said the crowds were growing.

In Bergville, police spokesperson Captain Charmaine Struwig said protestors had gathered at the location but that no incidents of violence had been reported.

In Port Shepstone, Superintendent Zandra-Hechter-Wiid said they had had no reports of violence.

By 1pm, protestors in both locations are expected to had over a memorandum to representatives of Education Minister Naledi Pandor.

In a statement released on Tuesday, the IFP's national organiser Albert Mncwango said: "The IFP is not going to stand by idly to see its contribution being trampled and destroyed. We will certainly not allow the legacy of Prince Buthelezi to be so deliberately destroyed.

"We are going to ensure that this book is removed from schools and will use all legal forms of protest to ensure that this happens as soon as possible and that this attempt to indoctrinate our children is stopped."

The book in question is the 256-page "In Search Of History" book published by the Oxford University Press Southern Africa. The book is used by Grade 12 students taking history.

However, national education spokesperson Lunga Ngqengele said: "This is not a prescribed book. It was not commissioned by us (the education department). It is a resource material book."

He said that Buthelezi had raised his concerns with the department over the contents in the book last year.

"We are still addressing his concerns," he said.

Mncwango said the book was "viciously biased propaganda masquerading as Grade 12 history."

Sapa