Programme Director, Amakhosi present, members of National Council, the Chairperson of the IFP in Amajuba Constituency, Mr Zwane and members of the Executive of the IFP, the Mayor of Amajuba Mr Mlangeni, other Mayors present, Councillors, our Candidates, all my Comrades from this Constituency and from other Constituencies.

I was very delighted to know that I am scheduled by the National Organiser and by the leadership of the Party to visit the Amajuba Constituency today.

There are many reasons why it is so special for me to be here at this time. The people of this District Municipality entrusted the administration of this Municipal district to the IFP in the year 2000. Since then a lot has happened which has undermined the mandate that the people of this Municipal district gave to my Party, the IFP.

We realise that one of the things which have undermined the people’s year 2000 mandate, is the floor-crossing legislation which the ruling Party colluded with the New National Party and the DA to pass. For what were purely and patently expedient reasons they amended the Constitution in order to make it possible for an elected member of Parliament, as well as an elected Councillor to cross the floor to another Party with the seat of another Party. This is an immoral legislation which is undermining democracy in our Country and is paving the way for a One-party State.

As all of you know, the people that are members of Parliament or Councillors here and elsewhere were not elected to their particular positions through the Constituency System where an aspiring representative stands for an election and voters are given an opportunity to decide whether they want to vote him or her into Parliament or into the Municipal Council. In South Africa we use the Proportional Representation System or PR System. You, voters, voted for me and the Party and it was the Party that decided to give these people the positions that they hold, whether it is in Parliament or in the Municipal Council.

The ruling Party argued when they introduced this legislation in Parliament that this gave representatives the opportunity to use their democratic right to change their minds and join another Party of their choice. No one would quarrel with that, if that was the case, and where it was in fact the case of people changing their minds to join another Party. The whole thing stinks to high Heavens as it is through cheque-book politics and patronage that the sewer-rats steal our votes and run with them to another Party. It is not a question of any change of mind, but this is no more than legalised corruption. It is not at all surprising that an international watchdog, Transparency International has recently revealed that CORRUPTION in South Africa permeates our body politic at all levels. They were not telling something that we do not know.

I think that it is important for us to know where we are, in order to determine where we would like to go from here. One of the reasons why I am here is to appeal to you on behalf of our candidates to please give the Party your mandate once again, in spite of the sewer-rats that have stolen our votes and ran away with them to other Parties.

We launched our Election Manifesto at Umlazi on the 15th of January 2006. Our candidates who were present on that day made a Pledge that day. A Pledge of HONOUR, SERVICE and DELIVERY. We decided on our Manifesto before the recent revelation about such endemic corruption in our Country as revealed by the Transparency International. We did so, on the basis of our own observation of the rot that has set in, in our body politic in South Africa. That is why the credo of our manifesto starts with a pledge of HONOUR. Our candidates made a pledge to remain faithful to this Pledge. They made a pledge to implement the promises that they made in the Pledge. They have made a pledge to be free from corruption and to prevent corruption being committed in the municipalities in which they serve. In short, they have promised to behave in a manner which is beyond reproach. You have seen the riots and protest-demonstrations that have taken place in many Municipalities which are run by the ANC, in quite a number of Provinces. I just thank God that our Municipalities were not burning as a result of the same kind of shenanigans, that ANC Councillors are accused of committing, in the ANC-run Councils. I know that not all our Councillors are angels. I was very happy when one stinking rat in one of the Councils here, decided to jump ship because we intended reading the riot act to him. It was such good riddance! We expect our Councillors to be men and women of honour who will not be caught with their hands in the till, as we have seen in so many ANC-run Municipal Councils.

Our Councillors made a pledge of SERVICE. You will see from our handouts that this is also fully spelt out. We want Councillors who realise that they are the servants of the public, not the masters of the people. They made a pledge not to cross the floor to any other Party during the so-called “window-of-opportunity”, as it is called. It should in fact be called the “window-of-corruption”.

The things that happen during that so-called window-of-opportunity are mostly acts of corruption as, I have indicated. We want Councillors who will be the true representatives of our Communities. People must not regard being a Councillor as just a career. But they should see it as an opportunity to serve our Communities which are trapped in gut-wrenching poverty. They should therefore not miss meetings. They should also participate in the meetings and not just be statues that sit-in at meetings to comply with the rules, only awaiting what they are paid at the end of the month. We want Councillors who report back to the Communities what goes on in the Councils.

Our candidates also made a pledge of DELIVERY. The major challenge that all of us who are elected face is to promote alleviation of poverty in our Communities.

Councillors are expected to do all in their power to ensure delivery of basic services to the Communities such as water, electricity, roads, sanitation and other services. They are to ensure that our Communities have access to government services and grants. They should be in touch with government departments at all levels to facilitate the acquisition of all grants such as child grants, disability grants, or old-age pensions.

When the legislation was drafted to set up these Municipalities, we in the IFP did warn that some of them would struggle to meet the needs of residents. We said this because throughout the World, municipal councils have a tax base, such as rates and other taxes. Our people are very poor and most of our Councils are rural, where poverty is highest. So they depend on what they get through grants from both the Central and Provincial governments. So our people should not have too great expectations always because the funds are never really enough to enable Municipalities to meet all the crying needs of our Communities. Predominantly rural municipalities cannot be expected to compete with urban municipalities which are in a better position to generate funds, apart from what goes to Municipal Councils in terms of the Municipal Structures Act and other legislation.

For these reasons there is really no room at all for frittering away the limited funds through corruption. It is criminal in every sense of the word to do so. That is why we as a Party have made a pledge to remove any Councillor that will be guilty of any act of corruption. We are tightening our structures to enable them to perform this task with speed and efficiency.

I have come here to make a personal appeal to the people of this Constituency to continue to trust me and my Party. I am not boasting but merely stating the facts of the matter when I state that I have a long track-record of being able to run a clean administration. In the decades in which we ran KwaZulu with what was a shoe-string budget we could not be accused of any act of corruption. In fact the last National Minister of Finance prior to the present democratic government, Mr Derek Keys praised me and my government publicly for the way we ran our limited budget. He went so far as to state that we could teach even the then Central government how to conduct their fiscal policies. To crown it all, when the self-governments and the so-called “independent” governments were called upon to handover whatever funds were still in their coffers, it was only I and the KwaZulu government, who handed-over money to the present democratic government.

I have also been a Minister of State for the first 10 years of our democratic rule. Throughout those 10 years I was never queried by the Auditor-General for the manner in which I expended the budget of the Department of Home Affairs. For these reasons, I say trust me again that I will ensure that those who are elected follow in my footsteps.

My last appeal to the people of Amajuba Constituency concerns the election itself. I wish to know by the end of next week whether you have PARTY AGENTS for each and every Polling Station in this Municipal district. I appeal to our youth to volunteer now and offer themselves so that we should not scramble at the last moment looking for Party Agents.

Let us audit the number of volunteers that we can get now. Let us get volunteers who will man all the Polling Stations as our Party Agents. Let us get the list of Party Agents for the whole of this Municipal District.

The second request I have come here to make is that if you have not started doing it already please start doing so tomorrow. I want every branch to list each old-age pensioner it its area of influence, and also names of any people that are physically challenged. Once we have their names we should make transport arrangements for taking these people to all Polling Stations on March the 1st. It is of no use us trying to scramble for transport for these people at the last moment. If we do not make these arrangements, we will lose this electoral battle by default.

Since 1999, quite a lot of our people who are eligible to vote do not vote. That is why the Province slipped out of our hands in the 2004 elections. I can bet you my last Rand, that if we do not take these precautions now, we will lose this electoral battle on the 1st of March by default. This will be tragic.

Do not be deluded by the fly by night instant leaders who spread fairy tales that our Party has lost support or that our Party is dying because that is not true and you know it. I do hope that those of you who attended the Provincial Elective Conference for this Province or those who attended the Youth Conference, or those who attended the special Women’s Conference on the 28th of January 2006, or those who attended our Manifesto Launch Rally on the 15th of January can all testify to the fact that the support of this Party has not at all fallen. However it is not Conferences or Rallies that win elections. What we need to do now is to ensure that all the people that are eligible to vote, should vote for us on the 1st of March 2006. We should from now onwards do door-to-door canvassing in every part of this Constituency to ensure that every person who is our member or supports us VOTES on the 1st of March.