KWADUKUZA: 21 March 2009
 

I am delighted to share this platform with you today. This meeting is proof that the local government, in which I work as Mayor of the Zululand District Municipality, the provincial government, which I aspire to run as my party's Candidate for Premier, and the local business people share the same goals. These goals are prosperity and well-being of the communities we serve whether as customers, ratepayers or taxpayers. But I am also a politician and it is in this capacity that I have come to address you today.

We are mere weeks away from what is bound to be the most fiercely contested election in South Africa's recent history. Never since 1994 has the political climate in our country been as volatile as it is now.
 

For all its show of robust support for Mr Zuma, the ANC today does not look like the political force that won almost 70 percent of the vote in 2004. If anything, the latest developments within the ruling party offer a recipe for political instability. The ANC is now split and at war with itself. Another battle is on in KwaZulu Natal where five years of ANC provincial government have led to economic and social stagnation.

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. The people need to hear instead how unfortunate they are not to have an IFP government! There is so much that is wrong with the ruling party's policies and style of governance in KwaZulu Natal: massive overspending, mismanagement of resources, fraud and corruption filtering down from the highest political places.
 

But I do not believe in negative campaigning. I believe that my party, the IFP, can win this province back on April 22 on its own merit by presenting a credible alternative.

The IFP's challenge since our inception more than 30 years ago has been to construct a narrative that speaks as much to the very poor in the rural areas and in urban informal settlements as to the business leaders, be they entrepreneurs, taxi operators or farmers. We have been fully aware that the future well-being of the masses depends on the individual success and prosperity of our business leaders.

The very poor feel disconnected from the political, economic and social centres of decision-making. We are their only lifeline. In many ways the South African state is weak and ineffective in delivering essential services to the poor. It is for these reasons that the IFP's advocacy of federalism and pluralism is so important. It is precisely the ineffective state and the hapless civil service that should discourage the government from pursuing its current corporatist and interventionist policies. The ANC government has been hugely overambitious in settings its service delivery targets. The enormous backlogs and protest riots which are a direct result of public disaffection with the ANC government, have evoked memories of the apartheid state.

I have always believed that the purpose of human fellowship of any kind is for the purpose of action. In this I include political parties. The challenge for our party, the country's largest predominantly black opposition organisation, is to provide a better alternative to the ANC.

I am speaking of an alternative which addresses the gut-wrenching poverty that is choking millions of South Africans everyday. And I am speaking of an alternative which, at the same time, does not frighten away investors and business people. I do not want our party to win because of negative reasons, but because we offer the best alternative.

The poverty, as well as the ANC, can only be shifted by a meaningful shift in public policy. We hold quite a big share of the rural vote in KwaZulu Natal, the nation's most populous province. We truly represent the poorest of the poor. Over the past thirty years, we have worked unceasingly to install a hard-won support of the market economy amongst those who are must susceptible to reckless socialist doctrine. It is important for South Africa's future economic growth and political stability that this remains so. The good news is that the IFP will be back in 2009.

One aspect of our readiness for government is that we seen the business of government as a business and your business at that. My District Municipality - the Zululand District - is an example of good and frugal administration. I am proud to run a tight ship. I run it like a business. I do not spend money I do not have. I prioritise the needs of the poorest of the poor among my residents without compromising the imperatives of running the local government under my jurisdiction as a business.

As someone who has placed personal integrity at the top of my agenda in the local government, I say it is also high time to restore a sense of personal integrity to our politics at large. It is time to halt the creeping malaise that is spreading its tentacles through our public life. We have led by example. We have taken exemplary action against corrupt representatives in our own ranks. I can tell you that as Mayor of the Zululand District Municipality, I do not tolerate corruption. I loathe it. I act resolutely whenever and wherever I detect it.

As a public representative, I am also proud to embrace diversity. In the IFP we readily embrace our differences and reject the notion that we are all the same. We are equal under the law, of course, but South Africa is nonetheless made up of many different cultures, groups, races, religions, communities and peoples. None of these is more important than any other, though we do embrace Christian and other faith-based values.
 

The IFP welcomes all into our fold. We are inclusive, we promote multiculturalism and we encourage the sharing of power among our constituents. The IFP is a home for all South Africans subscribing to our values and policies. Everyone is welcome to join with us in our great quest to make South Africa a better country.

Our idea of a better South Africa is a just, prosperous and moral society whose citizens have reconciled their past differences and engage with each other on the basis of ubuntu. A just society is one which is fair, which has successfully addressed the challenges of our past and, unfortunately, even the present - limited access to basic services, to sustainable jobs, to quality education, to adequate healthcare, and to security.

It also results in freedom and equality for all before the law, irrespective of who you are and where you come from. A prosperous society is one in which mass poverty has been eradicated and in which our people are able to pursue a better life. It is a society where everyone is able to develop to his or her fullest human potential. A prosperous society provides opportunity for all. It also generates high quality services and contributes towards stability and unity.

A moral society is one governed by timeless moral precepts of good, unlike the socio-political climate in South Africa today which comes close to being characterised by fear, violence, crime, greed and corruption. We believe in a society based on strong family and strong community. There is a contrast between some amoral leaders and elites and the essential goodness of most South Africans - we believe everyone has a role to play in making South Africa a better place.

A society underpinned by the spirit of ubuntu must necessarily promote justice and prosperity and morality for all. We believe such a society is a distinct possibility, and is not merely a dream. We believe our values of solidarity, freedom and unity, and our principles and policies coupled with bold leadership and political courage, can achieve this vision.

None of this will, however, matter unless we win political power and with it a mandate to put our ideas into practice. In order to do that, we will need your support. My appeal to you now is to spread our message in your families and in your communities. I can assure you the outcome will be worth your effort. Together, we can fix what is broken about the way we are governed today.

I thank you and God bless.

Contact:
Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi
082 804 7993