Madam Speaker:

In another time, John F. Kennedy declared, 'We observe today not a victory of party but a celebration of freedom.'

How true! 

The lofty achievements and endeavours that the President spoke of in the State-of-the-Nation address on Friday belong to all the people of South Africa. 

Our nation's progress over the last ten years is the stuff that dreams are made of. A uniquely South African dream.

It is amazing to consider that South Africa's transition to democracy took place under the threat of terrible conflict. A conflict portentous enough for the country to be included in a scholarly collection on 'collapsed states', under the 'heading 'states in danger of collapse'. 

This did not happen. 

In the pursuit of freedom and democracy, we rejected division and chose unity. We rejected discrimination and chose tolerance. We rejected despair and chose hope. Together we won the peace. A precious peace that up to the present time has eluded so many: the Middle East, Northern Ireland, Kashmir and other trouble spots across the globe. 

The Inkatha Freedom Party is immensely proud to have played a significant role in the reconciliation process and the nation building project since 1994, under the leadership of Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi. We did not stand on the sidelines. We were not afraid to become involved. 

Whilst the IFP participated in the national government to advance nation building and reconciliation, the ruling-party's magnanimity in allowing the IFP to contribute to the nation's governance was, I believe, unprecedented. 

Nor have our differences with the ruling-party prevented us from giving credit where credit is due. Great strides by government - better than most dared hope - have been made in providing essential services - water, electricity, housing and sanitation to the poor majority. 

The IFP also commends the President in the State of the Nation address for departing from the usual ANC tradition, established at least in the last ten years, of not recognising where government has not done enough or simply has failed. In admitting that there are important challenges to be addressed and resolved, the President has shown himself to be a statesman able to rise above the narrow sectional politics of party. 

Madam Speaker, as the political parties arrayed here today prepare to go out and contest South Africa's third democratic election, we must not be lured into believing that the remarkable achievements of the last decade means that the painstaking process of reconciliation and nation building is complete. 

South Africa is a work-in-progress. 

The road to national unity is a long journey. We may not even complete it in our lifetimes, but we have made a beginning. 

The task of national unity is one that transcends this house and government. For it can only be achieved by the contribution of all political parties and by the active participation of the constellation of groups that we call civil society - student bodies, women's organisations, NGO's, religious organisations. And most importantly, national unity requires the contribution of individual men and women in their daily lives - individuals for whom Ubuntu is the touchstone of human character and disposition. 

Democracy and the human rights culture that flows from living in the free society will only take root and flourish if the full citizenry participates. 

Today, we celebrate our freedom and not a victory of party. 

Yet we are mindful that even after a decade of freedom, the black majority still lives in abject poverty, which we have not succeeded in overcoming. The IFP believes that a lasting reconciliation and the building of a successful one-nation can only take place, when each and every South African enjoys equality of opportunity and are free from destitution, disease and despair. 

The IFP was particularly concerned that the President did not take the opportunity of using the "bully pit" of the State of the Nation address to emphasis the fight against HIV/Aids as a national priority. 

Mr President, we deeply regret that the issue HIV/Aids has too often, over the last five years, been cast in party political terms and debated in a polemic tone. We are saddened that the issue has threatened to undermine the moral authority of your office. 

Perhaps Mr President, your country and people look to you to be a unifying father figure, to show the warm touch - to reach out to your fellow South Africans with compassion - in a way that only a head of state can. 

We say this not to injure or cause offence. The IFP recognises and sympathises with the difficulties government faces in confronting this disease at this critical moment in history, for there are such overwhelming demands and expectations to correct the injustices and legacy of the past. But the President and the government must take the lead on this issue. 

More than any other ill, HIV/Aids has the potential to destroy our families, our communities and our sense of nation unity. 

This war requires a proportional response. Like the task of national unity, the war against HIV/Aids will require all the people of South Africa to work together in unison to win it. 

On the economy, the IFP welcomed the President's laudatory remarks in the address about the need to develop the "first economy". 

This must be followed up by action. 

Government must urgently work up proposals to slash bureaucratic red tape, review labour legislation that inhibits job creation and increase our competitiveness to make South Africa a magnet for foreign investment and accelerated growth. 

The IFP endorses the President's commitment to make "significant infrastructure investments". The IFP believes that in this regard South Africa must emulate the Asian Tigers, who achieved double digit growth in the post war years, and invest in growth industries and services. 

On foreign affairs, the President was right to state that South Africa has a role to play in the construction of a "new-world order", within a multilateral framework of international relations. Let us not forget the one billion people who live outside the global economy - most of them in Africa. 

Today we are keenly aware what the serious challenges facing South Africa are - HIV/Aids, economic growth and job creation, crime and corruption and poverty. 

The IFP will contest these elections on the merits of our proposals to address these seminal issues, not with rancour and negative campaigning. We appeal to all political parties in the spirit of reconciliation and nation building to do the same. History will judge us harshly if we fail to do so. 

Madam Speaker, We endorse the President's appraisal of the progress that South Africa has made in the last decade. But we dare not linger here too long and dwell on these achievements, for there is much still to do.

I thank you.