I am honoured to welcome you to the IFP’s 32nd Annual General Conference.

This year’s theme “Each one’s role in a crisis and the forthcoming election” means just what it says. Thirteen years of an ANC government have landed us in a crisis. And what a crisis it is. It is a crisis of leadership, of conscience, of integrity. It is a crisis that runs deep through governance at all levels in the new South Africa. 

The crisis can be seen in our failing schools, in our crumbling hospitals and in our collapsing justice system. The crisis can be seen in our broken society. The crisis is ubiquitous. But the IFP says that there is nothing wrong with South Africa that cannot be fixed by South Africans. 

The forthcoming election, on the other hand, has all the potential to offer a solution. Not only do we need fresh new policies to begin sorting out the mess accumulated by thirteen years of ANC misrule, we also need a fresh new ethos to revive the values of individual effort, hard work and personal integrity – the very values that have been ignored and ridiculed by the post-apartheid ANC-aligned establishment. In short, the forthcoming election will be an opportunity for us as a political party and you as the electorate to put an end to the ongoing crisis. 

I have taken great interest in the media coverage in the run up to this conference. Some of it was downright negative, focusing on the IFP’s loss of KwaZulu Natal to the ANC in 2004. Some of it was positive, pointing out that in the latest round of floor-crossing a number of ANC councillors dumped the ruling party to join the IFP – something political commentators had previously declared impossible. And finally, the rest of the media coverage was plainly ridiculous: it fed on largely fabricated demands from the IFP Youth Brigade for a constitutional amendment to establish the position of IFP deputy president.

 As National Chairperson I did what I believed was right. I made it clear in the media that this conference is not an elective conference. The next elective conference will take place in 2009, following the general election.

The same applies to IFP leadership election. I also encouraged the IFPYB to speak their minds publicly about their alleged demands for a constitutionally entrenched position of IFP deputy president. It turned out that no such demands were ever made in any form and at no level by the IFPYB. This, I believe, settles the matter. 

Let me make one thing clear while I am on the subject of constitutional amendments, The IFP is a political organisation based on democratic principles. We thrive on internal democracy. But, I can assure you, there was no row about IFP deputy president because this issue was never proposed by anyone in the IFPYB or outside of it at any point before the conference. 

At this point I would like to welcome every one of you who has taken time to attend this important conference. A special welcome is extended to those of you who are attending an IFP conference for the first time. This special category of guests includes our new members – and I am told by our Treasurer-General that party membership, judged both by the number of branches and rank-and-file members, has increased in the past year. My special welcome is also to the councillors from other political parties who have joined us in the latest floor-crossing window – very much against the outlook of most political commentators. To all of you I say welcome. 

Finally, let me make one thing clear. As long as our Great Leader is willing to lead us, I will follow him. I will follow him! Say it with me now. I will follow him! 

I thank you. 

Contact:
Zanele KaMagwaza-Msibi
082 804 7993