However, first and foremost the South African people want to live in a society which cares for its citizens and is ruled by a government which serves its people. It has been impressive for me to see how South Africans across the board feel the same way and are asking for the same thing. South Africans want their government to be a caring one, with its heart open so that the needs of those who suffer may be attended to. South Africa wants a government which provides the full measure of assistance to anyone who is infected or affected by HIV/AIDS and prioritizes its resources to ensuring a better quality of life for all. South Africans don't want a government in which corruption is rampant and ever increasing and where large amounts of public resources are wasted, just to enable government to run itself without translating into tangible benefits for the citizens.

HIV/AIDS, crime, unemployment, corruption and poverty are the concerns which South African people have expressed to me, across the country and in large numbers. The South African people must now ask themselves whether their concerns are going to be addressed the way things are going, or whether it is not necessary for all of us to change for the better. The alternative confronting all South Africans at the next election, is whether to have five more years of the same or have the courage to hope for five years which are going to be better.

When I went around the country speaking to South Africans I heard over and again that people wished for me to do all I can to make South Africa change. I have heard time and again that people feel that not enough is being done by the present government, in respect of HIV/AIDS, crime, unemployment, corruption and poverty. That is true because these problems could in fact have been solved, or at least mitigated had they not been neglected or even denied for as long as they have. The national government has achieved a great deal in the past ten years and many of its achievements have indeed been of great importance. However, the South African people are right when they feel that more could have been done and more should have been done about the problems of HIV/AIDS, crime, unemployment, corruption and poverty. The question is whether the South African people should now entrust those who have thus far neglected these problems, with the responsibility of addressing them in the next five years. We know that the time has come to ensure the problems of HIV/AIDS, crime, unemployment, corruption and poverty are solved by those who have the adequate policies, and the political will, to deal with these issues in a manner which is both effective and competent.

I do not need to explain to the South African people the importance of HIV/AIDS, crime, unemployment, corruption and poverty, because these are problems that we are all experiencing in one way or the other and we are all dramatically, intimately familiar with them. However, the people must realise that these problems are of such a magnitude that they may take away the many gains which we have achieved in the past ten years, and the fruits of our liberation. It must also be realised that there are standard solutions to deal with these problems, which a country like ours should be able to implement across the territory. What has thus far been lacking has been the political will and the correct policies. It is the responsibility of the IFP to correct this. The stronger the IFP will emerge from the next elections, the stronger will be the next government's political resolve to deal with these problems. We have the political will and we have the right policies. For ten years we have been suggesting policies which can solve South Africa's problems, but only small portions of our suggestions have ever been implemented. Time and again even the ruling party recognised that our suggestions and policies were valid, but went only half way in accepting and implementing them. It is now time to ensure that those with the right ideas are given the power by the South African people to implement them.

The IFP led KwaZulu Natal government has also been a champion in the war against HIV/AIDS. We have pushed the central government in all ways possible to provide the full measure of treatment available to anyone who is infected by HIV/AIDS. If it were up to us the anti-retroviral drugs would have been rolled out to all those who so desperately need them many years ago. I still cannot understand why our government has not rolled out anti-retroviral drugs on a full-scale basis, when our people are suffering and dying by the hundreds of thousands. Only history will be able to explain why the problem of HIV/AIDS, which is so dramatic and pressing, has been dealt with, with such neglect and so ineffectively. Only history can explain why it became necessary for the IFP led provincial government to have to go to the Constitutional Court to challenge the central government to be allowed to save our children from premature death, because of HIV/AIDS contracted from their mothers. It should have been the responsibility of any responsible government to ensure that mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS would be prevented in all cases. Instead, not only did our government fail to do so but it had to receive a court order to begin saving the lives of our children. It is now for the South African people to decide whether they should trust the same leaders to deal with the HIV/AIDS crisis, which is the greatest crisis our country has ever encountered, or whether the time has not come for a new beginning and a new hope, which an IFP led government could bring to South Africa.

I have seen the growth of poverty in rural areas for the past ten years and I have pointed it out to my colleagues in Cabinet, over and again. However, my remarks have constantly been ignored and the reality of poverty in rural areas, denied. I have always expressed the voice of those who are voiceless and have been the champion of the poorest of the poor because I know their plight. I have been in South Africa all my life and I have been amongst the poorest of the poor at all times. I don't need anyone to teach me about poverty. I don't need to learn what poverty is from books and statistics. I see and breathe it like many other South Africans do. However, there are people in government who prefer to ignore it and act as if it were foreign to them. There are other people who prefer shooting the messenger to considering the message, which they would rather ignore. I was flabbergasted when Dr Pallo Jordan, one of the ANC's top brasses, attacked me in Parliament, because I said that people in rural areas are poorer than they were ten years ago. I did not enjoy saying that and indeed I hated having to do so, but it is my responsibility to tell the truth. During the past fifty years in which I have been a loyal servant to the South African people I often had the responsibility of voicing things which were true but unpopular. That is the measure of anyone's true leadership. We need to ensure that the next government of South Africa receives the benefit of this type of leadership and no longer hides and ignores problems, just because it does not know how to deal with them. Crime does not go away by hiding crime statistics. By the same token, corruption does not disappear just because certain people are afraid to speak about it openly, because it is often too close to home. Corruption is a cancer which is devouring our society from inside out. Corruption takes money away from the poor and wastes it on people who are becoming richer and richer by the day. Too much money is spent by government to do little for our people because too much of such money ends up in the pockets of people who are not entitled to it. While certain cats become fatter by the day, our economy suffers and unemployment grows. We need to bring morality into politics.

The next government of South Africa needs the leadership of the IFP integrity. We need to have the courage to dream of a new and better beginning. There are people who believe that the struggle for liberation is finished, merely because they have arrived to a position of power, or one of economic comfort. We need to resume our betrayed revolution to ensure that the struggle for the liberation of our people continues. No South African will be free until all South Africans are liberated from the enslavement of poverty, underdevelopment and unemployment and the threats of crime and corruption.

The rich will not prosper in South Africa, nor be able to be secure, until the plight of the poor is addressed. We need to create a new revolution of goodwill which brings together all the people of goodwill, to work together on a national alliance for development, development and development. For this reason I have formed the coalition for change with the Democratic Alliance and invite any other people of goodwill to join in it because we need to join the forces and efforts of all South Africans, to build a prosperous and safe country. The old South Africa was built with the blood and sweat of all for the benefit of a privileged few. We now need a new social contract to build a new country, which can finally provide safety and prosperity to all, but which will require the efforts, contribution and sacrifices of all.

The road ahead remains hard and uphill. I have never made false promises to the South African people and I have never told them that things would be easy. I am sure that the South African people are sick and tired of hearing the same false promises every time election draws close. This time around the South African people must believe those who have a proven track record of getting things done. The new South Africa must be built by those who have the experience to do so. When I was the Chief Minister of the erstwhile KZN government, I generated vast employment and developed many projects in spite of the fact that we had almost little or no resources for such a purpose. Since 1994 there has been much greater resources available to build a new country, which can be good for everyone and accommodate everyone, but this has not as yet happened.

The time has now come to turn the page. On April 14 the South African people are going to be in charge. It is important that everyone recognises the crucial nature of this election and makes a special effort, not only to go to the voting stations to vote, but also to motivate others to do the same. People with transport must carry those who don't have it. We must assist as many people as possible to exercise their right to vote. On April 14 the South African people may produce the revolution of goodwill we so desperately need. We must believe that we can change the course of history because election is a magic time in which everything is really possible, and dreams can come to reality if the South African people believe in them strongly enough.

I have dedicated my life to the South African people and served them with every strength in my body, mind and soul for more than fifty years. God has given me great strength and my health is as good as it has ever been. I am committed to continue to serve the South African people and make their dreams come true. I am committed to the dreams of the South African people for a better South Africa. Newspapers which pontificate that I am about to retire have really understood nothing about the life, mind and soul of Mangosuthu Buthelezi. I have not come this far to give up now, and I actually feel that the time of my greatest contribution to the South African people has just begun.

I have done my part to bring South Africa to where it is. It is now the responsibility of the South African people to take us further, by ensuring that the next election will be a success for the dream we all hold so dear. We believe in God and trust in His assistance and pray that God Almighty will fulfill our dream and inspire our action. May God bless South Africa and give it the opportunity of a new beginning.