Camperdown : 8 April 2009

I am delighted to be here with you today in Camperdown, bringing the IFP message of change and determination to build a new South Africa. We are entering a critical point in this election campaign. In just two weeks today we will be voting in an election which promises to be a truly defining moment in our country's history.

The stakes have never been so high. There has never been such a need to turn a failed and tired government out of office. And there has never been such an opportunity. After 15 years of broken promises, the public is crying out for change.  It is down to each and every one of us to use our votes to show the ANC that South Africa is tired of their broken promises and the broken society that they have left us with.

I cannot overemphasis today how important it is that each one of us goes to the voting station on April 22nd. Every single vote counts. We cannot turn the page and make a fresh start unless you exercise your vote. If the IFP are to win back this province, we need to win here in Pietermaritzburg. It is a two horse race in this province between the IFP and the ANC. No other party can win. 

Do you remember what the ANC promised in 1994? They said they would tackle unemployment and create jobs. But today millions more remain out of work. They pledged to defeat homelessness. But today millions are without adequate homes.

They promised to provide education for all our young people. But today tens of thousands remain excluded from school because of a lack of funds.

The ANC don't want people to be reminded of all these broken promises. They want us to be quiet about their failings. The ANC want to silence me when I talk of such things. They want to silence you. Well we will not be silenced. On April 22 our voices will be heard loud and clear.

We will not be quiet as long as one of our children goes to bed hungry or one of our older citizens is living in poverty. We will not be silenced as long as a single young person is turned away from school because of a lack of funds or so many of our people are without jobs or opportunity or hope.

I have fought too long and too hard to bring justice and prosperity to the people of South Africa, to give up now. So throughout the remainder of this campaign, my voice will remain strong and clear, speaking the truth to those who want to hide away from it. And I am heartened by all the voices that are joining with mine because this election is not about me. It is not about the ANC President or any other political leader.

It is about you. It is about how you exercise your sacred right and duty to decide how you want South Africa to be governed. I know there is a temptation to stay at home and say 'my vote does not make a difference'. But you would be wrong to say so.

If South Africa chooses the ANC again, we know what we will get: Another five years of non-delivery; another five years of growing corruption and declining public services; another five years when the needs of the poorest go unanswered; another five years of joblessness; homelessness; hopelessness. That is what South Africa will get if it hands the keys of government to the ANC again.

We don't have to speculate. We don't have to look into the stars to see the future.  It is written in fifteen years of failure and broken promises. Let no one be fooled by the new promises that the ANC are today throwing around like confetti. These are promises that are broken even before they are made. The ANC leadership knows that. They are just hoping that the country does not wake up to the fact before April 22nd.

But we, the IFP, will not let South Africa sleep walk to the voting stations. Our voices will join together to ensure that South Africa awakes before it is too late. I have to share with you now a growing fear that I have for South Africa's future if the ANC remains in power.

Fifteen years into our democracy, the integrity of our whole society is threatened by a growing culture of corruption. In 1994 the ANC said they would build a better life for all. But today the question that all South Africans are asking is 'a better life for whom?' As the poor have got poorer, a corrupt minority have enriched themselves beyond greed. In government, in business and in the public services, corrupt practices have too often become pervasive, tolerated and flourishing. This week we vividly saw for ourselves the breakdown in the judicial process and Mr Jacob Zuma being denied his, apparently, long sought after day in court. 

I tell you bluntly, South Africa cannot bear this growing burden of corruption. It is distorting the moral and economic fabric of our country. Its tentacles are reaching out into every part of our economy and society and threatening to choke off its lifeblood. The ANC has had fifteen years to set an example of transparency and integrity. It saddens me to say that they have set the opposite example. The IFP will never be found wanting in this regard. For that reason we have proposed innovative new approaches to tackling corruption.

We will establish a whistle blowers charter to guarantee the jobs of those brave public servants who stand up to corrupt employers. And we will encourage the exposure of corrupt practices by rewarding whistle blowers with a percentage of the funds that would otherwise have been lost to the public purse. We will set the highest standards of probity and integrity in public life.

The stakes could not be higher. We all know what happens when corruption takes over a society. The economy falls to ruin; morality goes absent without leave and each person's prosperity becomes at the expense of another.

That is not the future that any of us want for South Africa. It is not a future that I will ever tolerate for South Africa. We have a tough election ahead. I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge. Or the perilous road we must walk. But nonetheless my heart is filled with hope.

Because I know the character of the South African people and their determination to see justice and prosperity return to our land. I know the innate goodness and generosity of spirit of the South African people. I never doubted it during the long dark night of apartheid and I do not doubt it now. Over the past five years since the last election, I have travelled the length and breadth of South Africa.

I have spoken with thousands of people who like you continue to believe that there is a better way for this country. I have sat at the bedsides of Aids victims and felt such a sadness and anger at the years that the ANC wasted in fighting this tragic disease. I have spoken with young men and women desperate to put their talents to the use of their country but are unable to find a job. I have seen the despair of families unable to provide sufficient food for their table because the government has abandoned the rural poor.

I have visited with young mothers sheltering in make-shift huts, angry and desperate at the ANC's failure to provide the housing they promised. I have seen and heard so much suffering and so much sadness. But I have also seen and heard so much to give me hope. I have seen hope in the quiet voices of determination, in the selfless acts of kindness an in the refusal of the human spirit to give in.

In 25 days we have the opportunity to harness this spirit and bring change to all South Africa. We know that today, more than ever before, people are questioning why they should follow the ANC's trail of broken promises to the voting stations again. This is our opportunity to shape the future. But it relies on you. We need every one of you to play your part.

We need you all to help build the just and prosperous South Africa that we have all dreamed of. Here in KwaZulu-Natal and throughout South Africa, the IFP is the only party that can challenge the ANC. So I appeal to each one of you - don't waste your vote. Cherish it and use it to vote IFP. Remember this election is a two horse race between the IFP and the ANC.

If each of you gets out and votes, and gets your friends and family and neighbours to vote, we can and will win a famous victory. And then we can set about building a new South Africa: a new country in which we will provide jobs for the jobless; homes for the homeless and care for the sick, the elderly and the insecure.

For those who ask "will the IFP do all this for us?" I have a simple answer:

No!

We will do it together. So I ask each and every one of you to go out and vote for the IFP on April 22nd. And on April 23rd we will start fixing South Africa's broken society together.

I thank you.

Contact:
Liezl van der Merwe,                083 611 7470.