It is a great pleasure for me to see this municipality launching such important projects, which identify how the local government of this region has begun delivering to its citizens. Today we are celebrating government at its best. I wish to thank the Mayor of the Zululand District, Her Worship V Z Magwaza, for her great contribution in making these projects happen. She has provided an example of leadership which ought to be followed by many people in government. The whole of the country is confronting many grave challenges, which require the action of government. Unfortunately, in the past five years, we have seen that the challenges confronting the South African people and the whole of our country, have often been much larger than what the central government could deliver from Cape Town and Pretoria.

Throughout my life I have always advocated the need to devolve power to the lowest level of government. I have been a federalist for so many years, because I know that much more can be done at the local level of government than from people who are distant, both from a geographical viewpoint, and from a point of view of attention and interest. Much more can be done by committed people, who work at the local government level and live close to the communities they serve. Unfortunately, local government has not been provided with the necessary means to serve the people to the full capacity, to which they would be otherwise capable. What we are seeing today shows how much can be done with very little means. One can just imagine how much more local government and provincial governments could do, if they were provided with much greater means.

When we discussed federalism during the negotiation process, the issue of federalism seemed to be very remote and removed from the real concerns of the South African people. However, today we see exactly what the issue of federalism is all about. What has been done by this local municipality, is indeed a lot and very praiseworthy. However, had we been part of a properly structured federal system, this municipality could have done so much more for the people of this area, in terms of additional services, which ought to be not only rightly administered, but also owned and delivered by municipalities. Among such services are hospital, schools and police stations. There is no reason why the police should not be organised and structured at the local government level. Unfortunately, because of its current ruling party in Pretoria and Cape Town, our country is still involved in the very centralistic perspective of a unitary state. Policing is a good example of how much federalism would help in solving the real problems of South Africa.

The government has lost the battle against crime many years ago. On the eve of elections there are efforts being made to show that the battle against crime has been turned around, and things are becoming better. However, that is not the perception of the South African people, and we all live in fear of continuing to become victims of crime. Peace, safety and security have not reached into the homes, workplaces and streets of South Africa. Much more could be done in fighting crime, if matters of this nature could be handled at the local government level. The whole of South Africa needs a new crime strategy. We need to have more policemen who are better trained, better equipped and better paid. However, we also need policing and crime protection and prevention strategies, which can be developed at the local government level by municipalities, because most of crime is localised and its investigation, prevention and redressing should take place at the local government level.

Unfortunately, South Africa is witnessing a tendency of people who are in power trying to concentrate more and more power in their hands. They are great threats to our democracy and must be countered by people who are committed to the cause of federalism and pluralism. We do not need more power in the hands of a few people in Pretoria and Cape Town. We need more power in the hands of municipalities who can deliver. The next elections are going to be an opportunity for the people of South Africa, to choose between the philosophy of those who want to concentrate powers in their hands, and those who follow my philosophy and are part of my legacy, who want to devolve more power in the hands of my people. At times I feel that our revolution, which led us to liberation, has been betrayed. We struggled for so many years, not to empower a few people who now feel that our struggle has been completed, only because they have reached a position of power and comfort. We have struggled for so many years to ensure that the people of South Africa could be liberated from their enslavement because of poverty, underdevelopment and ignorance because of lack of education, knowledge and exposure. In addition to these great evils, which we have inherited from our past, we are now confronted with new evils, which have emerged since the time of our liberation in a much greater measure.

We are now confronted with the great plague of HIV/AIDS and with rising levels of crime and corruption. The problems of the past are now being compounded with problems which have emerged in recent years. For this reason, we need to have much greater capacity in addressing these problems. It is obvious that the central government has not been capable, nor willing to do what it takes to address problems such as HIV/AIDS, crime and corruption. It is of very little help that a few weeks before elections, announcements are made about the roll-out of anti-retroviral drugs, when such a roll-out should have taken place years ago. Furthermore, what has been announced now is far too insufficient to meet the needs and aspirations of the many people, who are suffering because of HIV/AIDS. According to the Central Government Programme, it will take years before a place like this will be able to receive anti-retroviral drugs for all those who are infected with HIV/AIDS. The roll-out has begun in Gauteng and is taking place by means of a few pilot projects. There is no reason why the roll-out should have not taken place at the same time throughout the country, so that anti-retroviral drugs should be able to be available not only at each and every public health facility, but even in clinics in workplaces. If one regards HIV/AIDS as the social and medical emergency that it really is, one should act on an emergency basis. We, in this province, have declared war on HIV/AIDS and we are dealing with it as one would do in a war. If there is a war one needs to bring supplies and ammunition to fight the war everywhere and must do so immediately. People with HIV/AIDS do not have years to wait for their anti-retroviral drugs. Too many people have waited for too long and some of them are no longer with us, because the drugs did not reach them before their untimely appointment with death. It is irresponsible to continue dilly-dallying with the distribution of anti-retroviral drugs, while making enormous and sensational announcements for electoral purposes, while our people are suffering and dying and are receiving nothing but more empty promises. If a matter of this nature could be handled at the provincial and local government level, it would have been much more successfully handled. For too long HIV/AIDS has been mishandled at the central level and it is now time to empower local municipalities and provincial governments, to do what they can, to bring about substantial change in this major emergency of ours.

Similarly, we have seen too much poverty in our rural areas. The past ten years have achieved enormously throughout South Africa, but not enough has been achieved in respect of fighting poverty in rural areas. The provincial government of KwaZulu Natal and many of its municipalities have made substantial progress in that direction, but their resources remain limited. This local municipality has an excellent track record in fighting poverty and one must praise them for what has been done. Unfortunately, there is insufficient intention at the national level, and even in the many debates which surround the electoral campaign, about the crucial issue of poverty. I am surprised how people in urban areas, who are affluent and well-off, do not seem to realise how poverty in rural areas affects them so directly. South African must realise that until the plight of the poor is fully addressed, there cannot be any safety nor prosperity for the rich.

This municipality has followed up on my legacy and traditions. When I was the Chief Minister of the erstwhile KwaZulu Government, I developed thousands of projects to break the cycle of poverty. Today, not enough is being done to break this cycle of poverty at the central level. We must rely on municipalities such as this one to make a difference. HIV/AIDS, unemployment, poverty and crime are entrapping millions of rural and urban South Africans in the cycle of poverty. I am committed to reversing this trend by enabling individuals and communities with education, and the infrastructure, to break the chains of poverty. This is my commitment to the South African people, to which I have dedicated my entire life. I am proud that the administration of this local council has embraced my commitment and wishes to carry it forward. It is essential that we carry forward this pledge of mine, to bridge the gap between the rich and the poor, by promoting development in rural areas. We need more food security and subsistence agriculture projects, to ensure that every family can feed itself. Each government should treat the formation of co-operatives both as job creation and poverty alleviation tools, as a priority. We need to provide co-operatives with equipment such as tractors, in order to maximise agricultural input and enable subsistence agriculture to walk on the path towards commercial agriculture.

Local government must expedite and expand on programmes to supply water, electricity and sanitation, so as to free our people who are suffering because of the lack of these services, and enable them to dedicate their time to productive activities, rather than to the satisfactions of basic needs. We need to begin the cycle of development in rural areas by creating local markets and local industries. It is important to put people to work, even where there are no jobs, and local government should promote art and crafts and local industries, even ahead of relevant markets. It is also important to create rural development to reverse the trend of migration towards urban areas. It is in urban areas that we must make people understand that urban areas cannot accommodate them, and that it is easier to find subsistence and jobs in rural areas, rather than becoming part of an ever growing proletariat army, now afflicting the economy of urban areas. It is in urban areas that we must make it happen. This is the pledge that I have made and this is the pledge which I ask each and every municipality to make alongside me. It is a pledge to promote development in rural areas, not only for the benefit of rural areas, but to ensure balance and sustainable development, also in urban areas. It is indeed a pledge for all South Africans to join hands across the urban and rural divide. South Africans can no longer be divided between urban and rural areas. We must pledge mutual solidarity across that line, because urban and rural areas share a common destiny and they either fall together, or together will stand in a framework of joint and harmonious development.

I call on the whole of South Africa to join in this pledge as the elections draw closer. Throughout my life, even though I have lived amongst the poorest of the poor in rural areas, I have tried to develop a vision which can accommodate both people in rural areas and in urban areas. My vision for the development of South Africa enables everyone to prosper. We need to accelerate economic growth to ensure that we have a larger cake for redistribution. We need to create greater wealth to finance the many social programmes, which our country needs to promote social development in rural areas. The rate of economic growth at which we have moved is far too slow. Unfortunately, both the South African Communist Party and the trade unions, have exercised a very negative influence on the central government and have impaired many actions, which could have fostered our economic growth. We are now in a situation in which our economy cannot finance our many ambitions. We need to ensure that through the next elections a new government is in power, which takes to heart the conditions of the poor people of our country and develops a long-term plan along the lines which I have advocated for twenty years. We need a long-term plan of development to identify what South Africa will be producing in the years to come, to enable that it can earn a living as a nation amongst the nations of the world in the age of globalization.

The next elections are going to be crucial to give South Africa a better government. I urge everyone not to miss the opportunity of making their voice heard at the next election. The type of leadership which we have seen at work today, as we deliver these projects, does not come out of a vacuum. This is the type of political leadership which has matured within a tradition of commitment to the poor, and delivery to the people of South Africa. We need to ensure that through the next elections this type of leadership emerges stronger and has a much louder voice, not only within the context of KwaZulu Natal, but indeed on a national basis. The struggle for development has only begun. The next elections are the moment in which people can bring it forward. We need to ensure that everyone who understands the importance of this battle, goes to the election polls and makes his voice heard, to contribute to the empowerment of a leadership which stems out of this region and carries the legacy of a tradition of development.

The pledge in which we entered today should become the pledge of the whole of South Africa. The election is the moment in which we can effectively consolidate that pledge, to which end it is important that people in rural areas make their voice heard. We cannot lose a single vote. It is everyone 's responsibility to make sure that on election day everyone votes and makes his or her voice heard. I thank the leadership of this municipality for having made such a contribution towards our struggle for development. I hope that they may continue to provide an ever growing leadership to the struggle ahead. We must ensure that our struggle is not terminated. We must ensure that the struggle continues. I will continue the struggle because that is my destiny. I will continue to perform the service to which I have dedicated my life in the interest of the people of South Africa. With the help of God I shall continue in the struggle of the people. 

May God bless all of you.