Launch of the Sizonqoba Campaign
Remarks by Prince MG Buthelezi
President of the Inkatha Freedom Party
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Ladies and gentlemen, I am pleased to have the opportunity to address you today. We are exactly one week and one day from what is shaping up to be one of the most crucial elections in the history of a democratic South Africa.
You have just heard from Mrs KaMagwaza-Msibi who I am proud to have as the IFP's candidate for Premier of KwaZulu-Natal. Her record of service and sacrifice is well known to the people of Zululand. She is an inspirational leader and an able administrator who will return the government of this province to order and effectiveness.
Mrs KaMagwaza-Msibi has set out the compelling case to elect an IFP government in KwaZulu Natal. This case is not based upon the sort of false promises that the ruling party throws about like confetti. It is built upon the solid foundation of the IFP's proven track record in government.
Let me just reiterate that one simple fact that our Premier Candidate has highlighted to illustrate how the IFP track record contrasts so sharply with the costly failure of the ANC. When the IFP was last in government in this province 74% of students passed their matric examinations. Today the figure is less than 60%. In that stark statistic is represented the hopes of tens of thousands of our young people, cruelly destroyed by the venal incompetence of the ANC government in this province. South Africa cannot afford this sort of failure.
But this failure extends far beyond the matric pass rate. In almost every area the government of KZN is failing. Unemployment is nearly 30% on the official measure and far higher in reality; there is a housing backlog of over 300,000 homes, more than 6,000 civil servants are under investigation for housing fraud and the classroom backlog is nearly 10,000. Most tragically over 2 million people are suffering in this province with HIV.Aids. It is time for a change to rescue our province.
In this province and nationally, the IFP has a proud history of leadership and effectiveness in government. That experience and willingness to lead will be vital if we are to tackle the many challenges that South Africa faces today. Key amongst these are the need to restore administrative effectiveness to government; to stamp out the increasingly pervasive corruption that distorts our society; to tackle the crises in our education, health and welfare services; and, to reform our economy to meet the challenges of the global downturn.
But above all our challenge is to restore moral leadership to South Africa so that we can begin to tackle the social crisis that permeates our society. In order to fix it, we must first acknowledge that our society is broken. Family structures are collapsing; criminality is becoming a way of life for whole sections of society; and an 'anything-goes' culture is taking a dangerous hold in our urban communities.
The IFP is here to provide the moral leadership to turn back the tide and restore moral health to our democracy. That leadership has never been so desperately needed nor so shamefully lacking from our government. Fifteen years on from the birth our democracy our country is struggling.
Of course we should never fail to honour the achievements of past years. We took some bold and important steps together in those early years and we should acknowledge and credit them. Yet we must be honest with ourselves, that the past five years have held too many disappointments and set backs.
In the first ten years of our democracy, when unity governments drew on the talents of leaders from a variety of political traditions - both at national level and here in KwaZulu Natal - South Africa shone as a beacon to the world; a champion of human rights and a pioneer of economic, institutional and social reform.
The tasks before us sometimes looked overwhelming. Apartheid had left us with a deformed state and every public service had been distorted by its philosophy of division and hatred. The administrative challenges alone of integrating so many divided services, in the fields of education, health and social welfare were daunting enough. Yet we all set about the process with gusto and in truth we recorded many remarkable achievements.
Yet I regret deeply that in these times there were many great failing as well. The IFP campaigned, for example, long and hard to try and persuade the ANC to take a more serious approach to the gathering storm of HIV/AIDS, yet the ANC failed to lead in this regard, with all the tragic consequences that the country now suffers today
With the ending of a broad based national government in 2004 and the increasing dominance and factionalism of the ANC, the hopes of a just and prosperous South Africa began to fade. Today those hopes seem no more than a distant dream
Over the past five years we have witnessed the disgraceful misuse of government office to pursue ANC factional fights; the scandal of increasingly pervasive corruption; the moral degeneration of our country, starting with some of the most senior ANC leaders and - just a few weeks ago - the final abandonment of any claim to moral leadership in the world when the ANC refused His Holiness the Dalai Lama the right to enter our country.
Let no-one - anywhere in the world - be in any doubt where the shabby and shameful decision to deny the Dalai Lama a visa emanated from. It came NOT from the people of South Africa - who cherish democracy and human rights - but straight from Luthuli House; from the bosses of the ANC; a party corrupted by power, devoid of principle and fatally compromised by campaign donations from the Chinese Communist Party.
The reason that this shameful decision is so important is that it was no mere moral aberration; it is symbolic of the past five years of ANC arrogance and moral corruption, which has weakened our democracy, undermined the faith of our people in the institutions of government and tarnished our reputation throughout the world.
As I have said throughout this campaign, if people go to the voting stations and vote for the ANC again on Wednesday 22nd April, they should be in no doubt about what they will get. We need no crystal ball to determine the future if the ANC are returned to power. It is written in the last fifteen years of failure, corruption and moral collapse. So the choice we have to make in just eight days could not be more critical. It is a simple choice; a choice between more of the same or a change to something better.
Fortunately, a better choice is on offer. The IFP's leaders have proved themselves through decades of service to the people of South Africa. In government at national and provincial level we have demonstrated the political leadership and administrative skills that have allowed us to improve life for thousands of our people.
When others have chosen to remain silent, I have spoken out on key issues such as HIV/AIDS, human rights and poverty. Throughout a lifetime of public service I have sought to offer South Africa a sense of moral leadership. I will continue to provide that lead because today South Africa needs it more than ever before.
On Wednesday 22 April, there is a real opportunity to turn the tide. All the indications from our canvassers are that it will be an extremely close contest between the IFP and the ANC in this province. But for us to be successful, it is critical that everyone gets out and votes for the IFP and that they ensure that their families and friends and neighbours and in fact everyone they know, gets out and votes IFP. If all our supporters get out and vote we are in reach of a famous victory.
So my final message is quite simple and it is one I shall be repeating every day until the election. Whatever else you do, get out and vote on April 22nd - the decision you have to make is simple: do you want five years of more of the same under the ANC or do you want to see change for the better under an IFP government?
I urge South Africa to vote for change on April 22nd and then on April 23rd we will start fixing South Africa together.
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