We meet here today in the heat of battle. I will be blunt when I say that I will want all of you to leave this conference with the battle cry ringing in your ears. Let me tell you a few words about this upcoming battle.

On one level we, as a political party, are about to fight an all important election, one that will determine the future character of this country either as a vibrant multi-party democracy or as a stagnant one-party state. On another level, we are leading a battle to restore integrity to our public life and to bring new hope to our communities. A new, better KwaZulu Natal and South Africa can only happen against a backdrop of hope. We are here to give you that hope.

We, the women of the IFP Women's Brigade, are at the forefront of this battle. We are the backbone of this party as much as we are the backbone of this country. After all, statistically most of our party's supporters are female. Women also constitute over half of South Africa's electorate. It follow that without our hard work and dedication to our families, to our workplaces and to our communities, South Africa simply cannot move forward.

We gather today at a critical time in our great country's history. Every media outlet is consumed by the ANC leadership crisis, the latest instalment of which is the installation of a new President, Kgalema Motlanthe to replace President Thabo Mbeki, following Judge Nicholson's controversial judgement in the Pietermaritzburg High Court. For all its show of robust support for Mr Zuma, the ANC President, the ANC today does not look like the political force that won almost 70 percent of the vote in 2004. Talk of a split in the ruling party is rife. If anything, the latest developments within the ANC offer a recipe for political instability.

But my message today is not about personalities, but about issues. I believe the difference between the IFP and our main political opponent, the ANC, is the difference between what South Africa is and what it could and should be. There is so much that is wrong with what the ANC has done while in power at all levels of government. If only the walls of Durban City Hall, where I represent the IFP, could talk! But I do not believe in negative campaigning. I believe that our party, the IFP, must win this province back next year by presenting a credible alternative.

We can only do so on the strength of our hard work and integrity.

As I look how KwaZulu Natal, in particular, is being governed after four and a half years of ANC rule - or should I say misrule - I remain convinced that our continued strong presence here is vital to South Africa's long-term success and prosperity. Instead of real delivery, the people of this province have been offered a series of glitzy imbizos at which they get to hear how fortunate they are to have an ANC government. You will agree with me when I say that the people of KwaZulu Natal need to hear instead how unfortunate they are not to have an IFP government!

The upcoming election gives us all an opportunity to choose a new direction. There is a real chance of a new beginning next year. Will it be forward or will it be backward? This election will provide an opportunity to elect a new breed of political leaders who want to serve and not be served. This simple belief is captured in the key word of the theme we have picked for our conference: integrity. It forms the core of Inkatha's approach to people-centred and selfless government. We care about real people more than we care about vague ideas. With the ANC in charge, our people have been effaced by ideas.

As we, IFP public representatives, crisscross this province and country, we are aware that there is a hunger for change in how people are governed. Our communities have had enough of hollow promises. They do not want yet more plans. They do not want imbizos, which we all have to foot the bill for. They do not want so-called People's Parliaments because they are grown up democrats and elect people to represent them in parliament. Whenever I campaign door-to-door in Umlazi where I live, the local people, many of whom I know personally, tell me in no uncertain terms what they want.

The message is always the same. The people need water. The people need electricity. The people want service providers who treat them with the respect that clients of government services deserve. The people need accessible healthcare. The people need affordable and safe public transport. The people want law and order. The people want safe streets.

The people want effective community policing. The people need jobs. The people want decent education for their children. The people want a future for their families. The people want a government that is serious about these things.

What we have today is a government that is immersed in corruption. As a result, corruption permeates every level of public life in South Africa.

Alongside many successes of our transformation runs a parallel story of corrupt elected representatives and government officials. The ruling party may have repeatedly condemned corruption verbally, but it remains non-committal in practice. We in the IFP, on the contrary, have led by example. We have taken exemplary action against corrupt representatives in our own ranks. It is time to restore a sense of personal integrity to our politics. It is time to halt the creeping malaise that is spreading its tentacles through our public life.

To many in and out of the government, the notion of personal integrity rings hollow. The term has almost been twisted out of its meaning and context. It is sleaze, greed and dishonesty rather than honour, modesty and integrity that are the norm. Honourable conduct has become an embarrassing exception. Ubuntu has likewise become a mere slogan, a fashionable part of our public discourse, a concession to the spirit of the times. An alarming number of politicians feel they are doing the right thing when they sprinkle their speeches with the word ubuntu. But we have forgotten what ubuntu really means. Let us remind ourselves. Ubuntu informs us that we ascribe to others the dignity with which we expect to be treated ourselves.

But let me get back to the upcoming election. Of course we cannot simply appeal to the public for support at election times, no matter how much integrity we may profess to have or how committed we may be to the spirit of ubuntu. People need to have compelling practical reasons to support the IFP. They must have enough faith in us and our capabilities to entrust us with their concerns about the state of the country and service delivery in their immediate communities. The challenges our communities are facing are still enormous, some have even got worse.

High rates of poverty and joblessness persist. Crime is out of control. Our society is disintegrating under the weight of HIV/Aids and disease in general. The poor are only made more visible by the presence of the select few BEE billionaires, many of them affiliated to the ruling party.

But we did not come to Ulundi this weekend to bemoan the scale of the problems. We have come here to point to the right direction. The name of our party is the Inkatha Freedom Party. It means that we stand for freedom in all its forms and that we will rise in defence of freedom wherever we feel it is being curtailed. Such is the case now. Our political freedom is being assailed through an onset of a one-party state. Our economic freedom is being diminished through government policies that benefit the select few at the expense of meaningful advancement for many. As a result, fourteen years into our democratic dispensation, South Africa is experiencing a crisis of confidence.

If there ever was a time to opt for tested leadership, the time is now. There is one politician whose entire career has been shaped by ubuntu. When others were after fame and fortune, he served his people selflessly. When others adjusted their beliefs to changing political weather, he stood up for his principles. When others followed, he led. He is the by-word for service, for integrity, for real leadership:  Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi. His leadership, as we know it, is now needed more than ever before.

It is clear that the success of the upcoming electoral battle will depend on our readiness, determination and confidence to stand up to the ANC given its access to the state resources which the ruling party has used without shame to push its party political agenda among the electorate. It is equally clear that nothing less than a well-tuned and smooth-running electoral machine on our part, can deliver substantially increased voter support in this province and the country as a whole in the next election. More votes in this province, in particular, would mean a stronger representation in the provincial Legislature and, in turn, a bigger muscle to flex in the provincial politics in the interest of our constituents.

The South African electorate, past experience shows, favours the established political parties. We are an established political party with a proven track record in governance and community service going back to 1975.  We also have a long history of representing the needs and aspirations of people across KwaZulu Natal and South Africa. We must bank on this advantage by making our presence felt in these traditional constituencies - and beyond them. As we launch our election manifesto - and this will be soon, the IFP leadership would like to see a functioning, indeed a thriving IFP branch in strategically chosen municipal wards across this province and, where possible, close to voting stations. Let the IFP women be instrumental in these efforts.

There is much we can do to ensure an IFP victory well ahead of the election by motivating that all potential voters obtain their ID documents and are registered in time to vote in the next election. In order to register the maximum number of voters and gain a foothold in door-to-door canvassing during the actual election campaign, our leadership has urged the local party structures to continuously conduct voter registration surveys in all voting districts, notify party leadership, in detail, of all problems relating to citizens obtaining ID books and registering to vote in areas in which they reside and, in general, assist all eligible individuals in obtaining ID books and voter registration. I can only add my own appeal to you to throw your weight behind these efforts.

Although the responsibility for the election campaign content rests with the party at large, much of the onus in communicating our political message will be on our local party and IFPWB structures. I therefore urge all of you to ensure that you are visible, accessible, vocal and confident when you promote, as IFP representatives, activists and volunteers, the political platforms of our party and, in doing so, look out for new constituencies beyond the existing branch structures. I appeal to our local party and IFPWB structures to commence party and community voter education campaigns early and ensure that party information is readily available for distribution and discussion.

I would like to see our local party and IFPWB structures designing, with the approval of party leadership, election campaign material relevant to their various female constituencies based on local issues that have to do with service delivery and that target specific demographic groups of voters who reside in these constituencies. I would also like our party structures to ensure that we in our various capacities as mothers and professional women develop our own distinctive IFP election issue campaigns in all voting districts. Let us tailor these campaigns to the needs of the communities in which we live and present them in a clear and unambiguous manner to our respective constituencies.

I know full well that the tasks ahead of us are formidable and require sacrifice and total dedication to our cause. I call on everyone gathered here today to work their heart out in the upcoming election battle and take this message with you to your immediate communities and constituencies. I am confident that together we can achieve what we set out to do. We can substantially increase our vote both in KwaZulu Natal and nationally. As an opposition party, we are seeking a stronger mandate to govern so we can breathe a new life into our society and ensure that it consolidates as a vibrant multi-party democracy, not as a stagnant one-party state. We pledge to work hard to earn that mandate.

I thank you.

Contact:
Cllr Thembi Nzuza, 083 682 6702