In 1999, Oates took a position at the Westminster Foundation for Democracy where he was assigned to a role as a political and media adviser to the Inkatha Freedom Party in the South African Parliament, advising Home Affairs Minister Mangosuthu Buthelezi and Reverend Musa Zondi.
The foreign mediation team led by former US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and former British Foreign Minister Lord Carrington were pivotal in reaching a compromise, and convinced the IFP leader to give up the boycott of the elections.
Mangosuthu Buthelezi and KaMagwaza-Msibi hosted the party's final pre-election news conference on Tuesday, 14 April, at Northwood Crusaders Sports Club, Durban North, where they adumbrated their ten-point plan for the party's first 100 days back in provincial power.