I also wish to dedicate this speech to my lovely daughter Princess Lethuxolo Bengitheni who died tragically in a car accident on the 26th of July on the very day on which we buried our colleague Reverend Mtetwa.  I do not pay tribute to her merely because she was such a dear child of myself and her mother.  She played a unique role in my entire work.  She worked closely with me on a daily basis and did not bother when I made such odious demands

from her throughout the 24 hours of the day.  To say her mother and I miss her is the understatement of the year.  She must have had some premonition that she was going to depart this world.  A couple of months ago she bought her mother cane garden furniture and a large rubbish bin.  When her mother thanked her she said that this was just a start.  She said that you as our parents have brought us up, educated us and today we are earning money, it

is time we show our gratitude to you as parents.  I hope that God will ultimately heal the bleeding wounds in our hearts.  Her work was my daily work and I still feel lost without her working with me side by side.

The third person to whom I dedicate this speech is to Mr Bhekisisa Mthethwa, our Chairperson of the IFP at Jacobs Hostel who was brutally shot last week. His untimely death is a brutal reminder to all of us that none of us can say he or she will not lose his or her life through the bullet of political Assassins as our comrade has done.  He was a diligent and dedicated cadre of our Party.  His life should be a source of inspiration to all of us who are left behind to continue to grow the Party as he did so well.  His death should inspire us in the Durban Metro in particular to work as diligently as he did.  May their souls rest in peace!

Less than a year ago on the 13th of October we had our Annual Conference and our theme of that Conference was: "EACH ONE'S ROLE IN A CRISIS AND THE FORTHCOMING ELECTIONS".

Nothing has changed as far as the situation we face as a country in the last ten months since we had that Conference.  In our very first preamble to our Constitution in 1975 we committed ourselves to UBUNTU-BOTHO.  This was long ago before that became the conventional wisdom for so many in our country.

In the preamble to our policy document we have reiterated that 'THE IFP EXISTS AS A POLITICAL PARTY TO SERVE THE PEOPLE OF SOUTH AFRICA AND TO DO SO IN THE SPIRIT OF UBUNTU-BOTHO.  OUR PRIMARY PURPOSE IS TO SERVE.  IT IS WHY WE EXIST.  WE CONTEST ELECTIONS AND WE SEEK POWER IN ORDER TO SERVE THE

PEOPLE BY ADDRESSING THEIR NEEDS AND BY DOING SO BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE.  WE ARE SERVANTS, NOT MASTERS OF THE PEOPLE".

There is false propaganda which is being bandied about to distort history and the truth and that is that between 1994 and 2004 there was an IFP government in this Province. Yes, we were the majority Party but for all those years we were in a Coalition Government with the ANC. We were in other words jointly and severally responsible as the two governing parties in the Province.

To make clear what I mean for example the Department of Transport was run by Dr J S Ndebele from 1994 to 2004.  And from that year it is run by Mr B Cele. Just as an example the Department of Health was run by Dr Zweli Mkhize until 2004, when he was appointed Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs.  The IFP cannot be judged alone as a governing Party within the years 1994 to 2004 as it was jointly in charge of the Province with the ANC.  When the ANC took over in 2004, the Premier even tried to appoint IFP MEC's without consulting us in the IFP. This they were doing emphasizing that this was no longer a Coalition Government but that the government of the Province was now an ANC Government. Even when Premier Ndebele threw out the two IFP MECs Inkosi N J Ngubane and Mr M B Gwala, he did so without as much as a courtesy word of notice to us. I thought that before going into the guts of my address I should clarify the fallacy that there was ever an IFP Government in this Province since 1994. The ANC tries to use this fallacy to put the IFP in bad light and this is based on a fallacy as we shared responsibility with them from 1994 to 2004.

Yes, the IFP can be judged against what the IFP did in the Province when it was solely in charge of the area that was then designated as KwaZulu before 1994.  As long as the IFP is judged against the background that it was not independent and that it operated within a limited autonomy and a shoe-string budget, we are quite prepared to be judged on our deeds of commission or omission during that era.  There is nothing we can be ashamed of in our

administration during that era when we as a Party were at the helm.

Our values have never changed; we have always stood for SOLIDARITY, FREEDOM and unity in DIVERSITY.

As far as solidarity is concerned we have in our service to the people always stood together with those affected by poverty, unemployment, abuse, crime, violence and other social ills and discrimination.

As far as our understanding of freedom is concerned we seek a South Africa in which the potential of every person to a dignified life can be realised with integrity within a democratic environment. We believe that everyone has the right to participate in party affairs and to advance themselves so long as their activities are premised on integrity. Everyone in the Party has the right to speak and to be heard, to be treated with dignity and to stand for

any office.  On the national state we stand for a Constitutional State in which individual rights are protected against intrusive government in which the poor and the vulnerable are assisted and in which the autonomy of civil society is not infringed upon.

As far as Unity in Diversity is concerned our policy document states that:

We embrace our different cultures, groups, races, religions, communities and peoples.  None of these is important more than any other.  We are inclusive, we promote multi-culturalism and we encourage sharing power among our constituents.  The IFP is a home for all South Africans subscribing to our values and policies.

Against last year's theme and this policy background we chose "HONESTY, INTEGRITY AND COURAGE - THE IFP ANSWER IN A TIME OF CRISIS" as our theme.  Since speaking at last year's conference, so many things have happened emphasizing that we were not exaggerating when we stated that we as a country are in a crisis situation.

The Inkatha Freedom Party gathers in the eye of a political storm which is sweeping across the four corners and the nine provinces of South Africa.  There are smouldering political volcanoes stretching endlessly across the horizon which threaten to erupt at any moment and engulf our country. 

Apart from the Government's post-Polokwane "blues" - and they are feeling pretty blue - we are still contending with the ongoing problems of extreme social inequality, joblessness, the dastardly xenophobic attacks, a growing energy crisis at Eskom, severe water shortages, and a galloping HIV/Aids epidemic; to name some of the most urgent challenges. Yet we refuse to be defeated or downhearted, because the IFP represents the politics of hope and

change.

We gather in Ulundi as a family and a relevant political force; a party ready to serve. These three roles are indivisible: family, relevance and service. I thank each one of you for taking the time to come to this Conference. By your presence here you have demonstrated a desire to be part of the answer to South Africa's crisis of leadership.  

Today we are stirred by the call to action and service. We have read the mood of the country and the mood is for change. Not change for change sake, but because the country is demanding a new direction.

The government is in the doldrums, listing from side to side like a grounded ship. There are two captains on the deck now, both of whom seem to be shouting different orders to get the great ANC ship off the sandbanks. The problem with this marriage is that neither party wants to be in it or seek the same outcome. One could hardly describe it as a marriage of convenience because it's actually not that convenient. They must walk a political tightrope together by formally acknowledging Mr Mbeki is  still the President while, on the other hand, serving notice that the palace guard had changed.

There has been some speculation of late that the IFP might get hitched to the ANC, to which I can only reply, "Two is company, but three is a crowd".  I'll return to that subject a little later. But, more seriously, it is time to address the "inconvenient truth". We are stuck with a goofy government who live in a Disneyworld fantasy that everything is hunky dory.

The nation has been transfixed by the drama unfolding in the ruling-party in the aftermath of Mr Jacob Zuma's decisive victory in Polokwane last December. The "Zuma-fication" of the ruling-party continues unabated and we have witnessed the unhappy spectacle of the humiliation of a president by his own party colleagues. I, for one, have been disturbed by the ugly behaviour meted out to our Head of State because, at the end of the day, he is the President of all the people of South Africa. This has nothing to do with ANC internal conflicts as these are none of our business.  I have more than once stated in Parliament that I would equally object if such ugly behaviour was meted out to Mr Zuma, if and when he became our Head of State.

The country is crying out for new leadership. It is time to lift this country up from the doldrums. It is time to lift it up from the petty divisions that blight our politics and way of life. Let me make one thing clear today: other political parties are not the yardstick by which we

measure our contribution. We don't say, "Ah the ANC are bad and the DA are too slick by half, so vote for the IFP!" Our focus should be entirely on the needs of our people.   And who can deliver best with Honesty, Integrity and Courage.

I believe we, the IFP, will find our true destiny if we return to the belief that politics should be for principles, not a lust for power. Wherever I go in the country, people complain to me that politicians are in it for what they can get out of it.   Seeing what is going on in our country I find it difficult to argue with them when they say this.

South Africa has been through some dark times recently. But I believe these dark days will be worth all they cost if they teach us that political service is for the purpose of serving our fellow South Africans. The restoration of morality - of honesty and integrity - in our public life, as well as a response to the call for action, is needed.  When this country launched its campaign for moral regeneration we were all full of hope that our country was on the right track.  We all know by now that we have not succeeded to make progress on our path of moral regeneration.  I found an article by Professor Martin Prozesky on Integrity the basis for success quite fascinating.  He was commenting on the values of the Moral Regeneration Movement's Charter of Positive Values.  He commented as follows:

"The Charter of positive ethical values gives us a rare and important opportunity to focus on the vital place of moral values in human life and on making them work.  First a commitment to live and work ethically is the only foundation for sustainable success in every aspect of our human existence.  From marriages, partnerships, families and friendships to the workplace, the professors, business, sport, religion, the police, the military and politics - nothing will flourish deeply, richly and lastingly unless it is done on the basis of integrity, honesty, respect and a willingness to transcend selfishness.

Second living and working on the basis of positive, moral values like these is the privilege and responsibility of us all.  They are not something we can leave to politicians, teachers or even our religions though these have important ethical responsibilities".  It is very important to see why morality belongs to us all whether we are religious believers or secularists.

We know that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it, and to work for it, and to fight for it. My simple message today is that the IFP is ready to fight for it. We are the force for change in the nation today. Earlier this year, on January 23, I laid out what I believe the IFP is for. I want to remind you of what I said.

I said that we have felt the frustration, the impatience, the urgency, the anger at the waste of lives unfulfilled, ambitions stilted, hopes never achieved, dreams never realised. I said that where there is one child still in poverty in South Africa today, one pensioner in poverty, one person denied their chance in life; there is one party that will have no rest, no vanity in achievement, no sense of mission completed, until they too are free. That party is the IFP.

The IFP believes in the hard work, God-given gifts and good fortune of the South African people in their rich diversity. We cannot achieve any of these without Honesty, Integrity and Courage.

We have always said that there is no freedom without responsibility and that duties come before rights. We say that it is natural for people to desire health, wealth and happiness for themselves, their families and communities.  Every parent desires for his or her child a better education than he or she had. Every child desires security for his or her parents in their old age.  And that is why we say that it should be the mission of the South African government to eliminate the obstacles in the way of these aspirations. 

A political party without values, no matter how well packaged, will capsize in the stormy waters of public life. Values shape our policies, not the other way round. We strive to win in order to serve. Our politics is not to be found in the eloquence of our words, but in what we actually do. There is nothing broken in South Africa that cannot be fixed by the people of South Africa.

You know, friends, I sometimes think that in South African politics only the rhetoric flies.  Everything seems to be grounded! And I will - today anyway - resist making any pointed remarks about our national air carrier! It is time for politicians to stop the high flying rhetoric and to call a spade a spade. We have, for instance, waxed lyrical about the disintegration of

Zimbabwe and the withering of liberal democracy. But let's be frank for a moment.  

Mr Mugabe is unpopular because his administration is broken and there is nothing for ordinary people to eat. Many Zimbabweans hunger not for liberal democracy, but for food. And is this not true, I wonder, for hundred of thousands, maybe millions, of South Africans? If not food, then shelter, access to decent services, a quality education and safe streets are high on the agenda of ordinary South Africans. There is another world, a suffering country, outside of this tent and, quite frankly, they are not pontificating on the fruits of liberal democracy. 

Similarly, the people of South Africa are not interested in the internal family matters of the IFP. We need to take our focus off of these matters and put it squarely on the needs of the people. I know that the IFP still has far to travel to overturn the largely negative perceptions of the party propagated by our opponents and bolstered by some quarters in the media, for instance that the IFP is a Zulu nationalist party. Our problem is that because of this propaganda in the South African imagination we are still not identified with a sharp policy profile. People will not vote for us simply because they think we are "nice", although I happen to think we are! You may applaud if you think I, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, am "nice"! But hold on a minute: just imagine one day God allows you a special view from Heaven. Do you really want to hear people say about you, "He or she was nice"? Of course not! You want to be remembered as a dynamic go-getter who had your fabled fifteen minutes of fame. 

I believe that the IFP is, in terms of social attitudes and mores, the natural party of government in South Africa. Sandwiched as we are between the well-resourced ANC and DA, we must reach out of our core constituency to grow the Party. Can we do it? I say "Yes", because we have a great product to sell. We just need the political will and the gritty determination to get out there and get our hands dirty, some of our leaders such as our National Chairperson, such as for example Mr John Klopper are doing this.  There are others apart from them who are doing it but the truth is that too few of our leaders are doing it.

Tony Leon just released a memoir called 'On the Contrary' - which I had the pleasure of introducing in Durban on Tuesday. It is a gripping read of how he took a party close to oblivion and transformed it into the lean and tough opposition party it is today. We may or may not like the DA's style, but they hold power in Cape Town and are in with a good chance of winning the Western Cape. But Mr Leon could not and does not claim to have done it by himself. He needed a committed army of supporters who were willing to turn his ideas into action. Are you committed to helping me turn this Party into a powerful alternative to the ANC?  I know that groups of leaders have been given tasks to do just this by the Party.  Can we please hear about what they have actually done during the time for reports this evening?

In the IFP we have grown used to doing things the same way year in and year out. But maybe that doesn't work anymore as well as it used to. For one thing, the age of mass rallies as a form of political mobilisation is, by and large, over. I am not saying they don't have their place. They do. But we need to learn a new style of politics which delves deep into the nook and cranny, heart and mind of every community across this great nation, from the Western Cape to Limpopo, from the Karoo to the Drakensburg and from "shining sea to shining sea".   We need more door to door campaigning.  We need more assistance given to the people that we serve.

Senator Barack Obama understands it in America and, whether he wins in November or not, he has turned on an entire generation of young people to political participation in one of America's two big parties. Who said the age of party politics is over? The answer: nearly everyone, a year ago.

Yet in South Africa there is something else skimming the surface which is even more profound. The unwritten economic and social compact, which, if we were to be truthful, enjoys broad support across the political centre of which we are part, is coming under increasing strain within the tripartite alliance itself.

As most commentators agree, the real fight within the ANC today is not between personalities, but for the ideological soul of the party: its very essence. This is fascinating because ideology, once the essential ingredient of politics, is disappearing fast from the political discourse worldwide.  Yesterday's notions of 'left', 'right', 'centre', 'socialist',

'conservative' and 'liberal' have become increasingly problematic. Spotting whether a policy is left wing, or a move to the right, depends on many things, including subtle shifts in political context and a dialectic between politicians and parties. This is the end of ideology as we know it.

As a result, challenging incumbent governments on ideological grounds has proved futile in many democracies. I suspect it will continue to be futile here. This places us in a difficult position. So will the IFP still be at the crease or, for the soccer fans amongst you, will it be a penalty shootout at the 2009 general election? The 2009 poll will determine if we can mount a successful challenge to the ANC-led government in KwaZulu-Natal and in other Provinces and will confirm if we can hold our position on the national stage and even advance.

Being in opposition requires a stern frame of mind. It also requires stamina. To be relevant, a party must find the hairline crack in the big debate of the day, pick up the hammer and deal a strong and decisive blow.  For this, I believe, is the age of the "permanent campaign". This term comes from current American political theory. Its application to the South African context is well supported by facts. Local voting research persistently shows that voter perceptions in South Africa are built over long periods of time on the basis of cumulative impressions. Similarly, voter loyalty favours long-established political parties. It is hard earned, but lasting. Any winning strategy must, as a result, formulate itself within the context of a permanent campaign.

If we are to mount a serious challenge in just a few months time and implement the permanent campaign which I have just mentioned, wider and deeper changes are still required. The proportional system of representation for self-evident reasons has inhibited the development of a vibrant permanent campaign in our constituencies. This means that each one of you must run your own mini IFP campaign in your community.  That is why our last

year's theme was: "EACH ONE'S ROLE IN A CRISIS AND THE FORTHCOMING ELECTIONS".

If a multiparty democracy is to work properly, parties must march to the beat of drums that stand somewhat apart from the rhythm of the whole nation.  It is not wrong for them to resonate to particular interests, instincts or opinions. It is not wrong for the Inkatha Freedom Party to have an ear especially attuned to the rural interest; and to business, trade and the

professions. And nor is it wrong, I concede as a democrat, for the ANC and the DA to be especially attuned to their constituencies. But this does not mean that we should not break out of our natural constituencies into others.  We have always been a national Party and we have never regarded ourselves as merely a regional Party as our detractors portray us. 

A party has a personality, a cast of mind: it's what makes an institution tick. It's what makes the IFP tick. We have our own unique identity that separates us from our two large competitors, the ANC and the DA.

I, for one, believe the IFP has shown the country a textbook example of opposition here in KwaZulu-Natal. The leader of the Official Opposition, Mrs Helen Zille, has recently put a bold proposal on the table about opposition party co-operation. The IFP is no stranger to opposition alliance politics.  Before 2004, we invited DA ministers into the provincial government and it worked well, providing the country with an example of a first-class

multi-party government. I do, however, wish to state that I believe co-operation agreements with other parties should be made after the people have spoken at the ballot box, not before. This is not to say that we should mislead people about who we are willing to work with after an election.  Agreements, however, must also centre on public policy preferences - the agenda for government - rather than a simple grasp of power.

Now on that subject, you may have noticed that as the electioneering warms up, particularly here in KwaZulu-Natal, some of the ANC's national leaders have been flirting with us. Whilst most of us are not adverse to a bit of good natured flirtation, I do think I need to clearly spell out the relationship between the ANC and the IFP.

Two weeks ago the President of the African National Congress, Mr Jacob Zuma, while addressing the Twelve Apostles Church in Emgababa, urged believers to pray that the "IFP and the ANC may have this love demonstrated by you, so that there may be a marriage that results from this love".  

I wish to unequivocally state to this Conference that whilst I share Mr Zuma's desire for our two parties to enjoy a good functioning relationship befitting our parliamentary democracy, a "marriage" or merger is not on the agenda today, tomorrow or in the future.

Let me repeat that: there will not be a marriage with the ANC today, tomorrow or in the future!

S'Thembiso Msomi got it spot on when his article in The Times on August 13 was bylined: "Buthelezi won't be Zuma's 'bride'"!  I normally detest the depiction of political alliances either as marriages or as some do crudely as going to bed with whomsoever!

Whilst I, of course, like you all do, welcome a rapprochement between the African National Congress and the Inkatha Freedom Party, I wish to reaffirm that history has cast our respective organisations in different roles and that the IFP will retain its distinctive identity as an opposition party and as a political competitor to the ruling-party.

This is quite apart, and not to be confused with, the common bonds of history between the country's two largest predominately black parties. I would like to quote from my online letter of August 7, 2008:

"Whilst one appreciates this new generosity of spirit (as expressed by Mr Zuma and other ANC national leaders), I think it is important to unequivocally clarify that today our organizations are quite distinct animals in respect of our multi-party democratic order. Moreover the cordial relationship between the respective parties' national leaders and the

normalisation of party relations, in terms of how political parties in a multi-party democracy interact with one another has not yet filtered down to the provincial level".

This, I went on to say, has implications for both the democratic health of our country and the ongoing process of reconciliation which are not mutually exclusive:

"This, in itself, is not intrinsically a bad portent for multi-party democracy in the province. But at the same time, the relationship between the two parties must not be allowed to descend into bitter acrimony. This remains a pressing matter particularly as we fast approach the general election. Legitimate political competition and the ongoing process of reconciliation must be carefully balanced... It is important that IFP supporters and, for that matter, ANC supporters, understand that there is clear blue water between our two organisations about the direction that we wish to lead the country in. It is vital that we do not send contradictory

signals to our constituents at this time."

How can we credibly judge the pretty words that the top leadership of the ANC is saying about reconciliation, while the lower echelons of the ANC are continuing with their agenda of vilification of me and the IFP? I would also like to mention that a letter that I sent to Mr Zuma highlighting outstanding issues between the ANC and the IFP when he became leader of the

ANC was not even acknowledged. This leads me to wonder if the sincerity matches the rhetoric.

Moreover there are people who do not understand that there are differences of strategy and policy between the ANC and the IFP.  These differences started in 1979, after our London meeting with the late leader of the ANC, Mr O R Tambo.  There were differences of strategy.  There have always been African Leaders in our two organizations of different ethnicity.  We have never recruited members in the IFP on the basis of any ethnicity.  While the organization was founded when we were confined to KwaZulu Natal politics, we recruited members from all African ethnic groups,  The exchange between me and the then Minister of Police Mr Jimmy Kruger was based on him threatening to take action against me if I continued to recruit Africans other than Zulus into this organization.  I refused to do so then, I refuse to be put into the confines of 'a Zulu organization' now as I did then.  Mr Zuma has been a Zulu all his life and he has always been a member of the ANC.  I was also a member of the ANC, until the UDF rejected my organization when they were launched in 1984.  Since then we ceased to cooperate as we did for so many decades with Mr O R Tambo.  The rejection did not come from our side.  Mr Zuma was in a Coalition Government of the IFP and ANC as an MEC from 1994 to 2004.  He was an ANC Minister representing the interests of his Party and this has nothing to do with being a Zulu.  I make these comments because there are some political illiterates amongst us who are trying to pretend as if the differences of policy and strategy between the ANC and the IFP will be wiped off merely because the leader of the ANC is a Zulu as if they only realize now that he is a Zulu.  If there is rapprochement between our two organizations it will come about because the leader of the ANC decides to take a new direction from what the leadership of the ANC have done up to now particularly in this Province of KwaZulu Natal.  The leadership of this Province in particular has always been a fly in the ointment as far as any reconciliation between our two Parties are concerned.

04 January 2008

His Excellency Mr J Z Zuma

President of the African National Congress

Luthuli House

54 Sauer Street

JOHANNESBURG 2001

VIA FACSIMILE#: [011] 376 1242

Nxamalala!

I wish to repeat my very good wishes to you as you take on the heavy responsibility of leading our oldest liberation Organisation, the African National Congress.

I realise that this comes with great challenges and responsibilities which I have no doubt you will with God's grace be able to handle.

Before you meet on the Anniversary of the founding of the ANC, I feel that your accession to the seat of great African leaders such as Dr Langalibalele Dube, Dr Pixley Seme, the Rev Makgatho, the Rev Mahabane, Dr Alfred Xuma, Inkosi Albert Luthuli, Mr Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela to name just a few, raises hopes that you together with the Deputy President Mr Kgalema Motlante will complete what they started.  I do also wish the Deputy

President well and congratulate him as well on his election.

As you both look forward to the Anniversary need I remind you of the letters I wrote to both of you, which both of you did not even acknowledge their receipt.  I am not chiding you when I mention this but it is just the facts of the matter.  I mention it because there is a gaping wound which has not completely healed caused by the fratricidal strife in the 80s and 90s that cost us so many innocent lives.

There have been so many documents that were drafted as the basis of reconciliation between us, but none of these achieved the objective starting with the Joint Communique that was issued after our first meeting on the 29th of January 1991 in Durban when the two delegations of the ANC and INKATHA were led respectively by President Nelson Mandela and myself.

I will not name them all but I will just give a synopsis of that which has taken place on the last decade or two between the two organizations, particularly in this Province.

As the ruling Party is readying itself for the ANC's Anniversary Celebrations there are matters I feel I should mention.

I refer here to my concern about the consolidation of reconciliation between the ANC and the IFP.  On the 26th of April this year Professor Herbert Vilakazi delivered a lecture in Durban on the relations between our two organisations.  He also proposed a way forward.  He invited leaders and members of both the ANC and the IFP.  The leaders of the ANC just like those of the IFP promised to attend.  However, by the time the lecture was delivered leaders of the ANC in the Province were conspicuous by their absence.  Only IFP's top leadership attended.  There was a debate in 'The Sowetan' newspaper on the proposals by Professor Vilakazi.  It was not surprising that it had to be Professor Ben Magubane who tried to put a

spanner into the works.  That was bad as he has been given the task of writing the contemporary history of the liberation struggle by the President of the ANC.  However, as far as the Province of KwaZulu Natal is concerned which was the theatre of the war of attrition between members of the UDF/ANC and members of the IFP it was remarked that someone in Premier Sibusiso Ndebele's office Professor Musa Xulu wrote a long article in 'The Sowetan'

shouting down Professor Vilakazi's proposals.

It is now clear that he was probably acting on the instructions of Premier Ndebele.  This is the impression one gets when reading a leader page article this week by the Premier in which he is reacting to my address at the recent annual Conference of the IFP.  His reaction reminded me that the leadership of the ANC in the Province has always been opposed to any reconciliation between members of the ANC and the IFP.  One the 29th of January 1991

delegations of the ANC leadership and the IFP leadership, led by President Mandela and myself met in Durban.  We reached an agreement that both Mr Mandela and I should from that date address joint Rallies in the Province and in Gauteng attended by members of both organisations.  An opportunity presented itself when I was invited to address a rally at Taylor's Halt in Pietermaritzburg.  I proposed to Mr Mandela that Mr Mandela and myself

should use the opportunity to address a Joint Rally of members of both organisations, Mr Mandela agreed.  However, just before we were due to appear together at the Joint Rally, I heard that Mr Mandela was not attending the Rally.  When I phoned Mr Mandela to verify the rumour he told me that the then leader of the ANC in the Province Mr Harry Gwala had arrived at the ANC Head Office in Johannesburg with a busload of ANC leaders from the Province of KwaZulu Natal to tell him not to address the Joint Rally at Taylor's Halt with me.  So that never happened.  It has not happened even when the IFP invited the ANC to join the Coalition government of the Province after winning the elections in 1994.  It has not happened to this day.  Although this was supposed to be a Coalition government it never brought any real reconciliation between the ANC and the IFP, in the national government where I worked under  reconciliation between the ANC and the IFP.  In the national government where I worked under the Presidency of President Mandela and later on under President Mbeki there was more rapport and camaraderie between us as members of the same Cabinet.  That is apart from the Billy Masethla debacle.  It was not surprising that in 1999 when President Mbeki had decided that I should work with him as Deputy President of the Country that the whole thing aborted because of the attitude of the ANC leaders in the Province.  President Mbeki told me that the ANC leaders in the Province of KwaZulu Natal forced him to demand from me that if I took the position of the Deputy President, I should give the position of the

Premier in KwaZulu Natal to the ANC.  They knew that there was no way that I could accept such a thing.  So the whole thing fell through because they did not want me to be Deputy President.

There are too many agreements, too numerous to mention that were concluded between the ANC and the IFP in KwaZulu Natal which have all been broken by the ANC.  The worst of these is that when the ANC received more votes than the IFP in the 2004 election they told us that this marked the end of a Coalition government between us, that the government was now the ANC government, that the IFP would be in it only by the courtesy of the ANC.  So, three of our members of Parliament were invited into Mr Ndebele's Cabinet.  One of them later resigned for personal reasons and two remained. There was appointed an ANC/IFP Committee of 3 which was supposed to deal with any problems that arose between the two organisations.  In August 2005 Premier Ndebele was interviewed by 'The Sunday Tribune' newspaper. Among other things he mentioned that he was concerned about the fact that the

state of relations between him and myself were not what they should be.

In August 2006, the Premier held a gathering which they call Imbizos at Mondlo.  I was also invited.  In my presentation I tried to respond to the concerns that the Premier had expressed in his 'Sunday Tribune' article about the state of relations between us.  The Premier then expressed his intention to visit me at my home at KwaPhindangene.  I was shortly thereafter approached by both the Director-General Professor Mandla Mchunu and the Director-in-Charge of Liaison in the Premier's Office Rev Vundla for a date for a meeting between me and the Premier to be scheduled on the 22nd of September 2006 in the Premier's office in Ulundi.  And that we could only go to my home for refreshments after our discussion in the office.  In our discussions with the Premier we were dealing with the issue of relations between me and the Premier and his government.  Among the things I quoted to the Premier was an incident which indicated how bad the state of our relations was, and that was the manner in which my daughter Sibuyiselwe had been treated.  That she was discriminated against because she was my daughter.  She had been appointed to a position on merit under Minister Narend Singh who was an IFP Minister.  He signed the document confirming her appointment before he left Cabinet.  When the new ANC Minister Ms Weziwe Thusi was appointed to replace Mr Singh, she froze my daughter's appointment.  She was quite open to some people that she could not countenance a situation where my daughter being my daughter was appointed to a position dealing with Security in her Department.  My daughter was not going to be in charge of the Minister's personal Security.  I had mentioned this matter to the Deputy President of the ANC Mr Jacob Zuma in Greytown during the Inkosi Bhambatha Celebrations in the presence of the Minister concerned.  Mr Zuma asked her to sort the matter out.  As this was in May and it was now August, and it had not been sorted out, I then mentioned it again to Premier Ndebele in his capacity as Head of government and leader of the ANC in the Province of KwaZulu Natal.

The Premier reacted to my plea by instructing the Director-General, Professor Mandla Mchunu who was present at our meeting to tell the Minister under whom my daughter worked to sort out the matter.  Later on the Director-General told me that the Minister was defiant and stated that she was not prepared to accept the instructions of the Premier.  My daughter

eventually had to resign.

Our meeting was cordial and after our meeting I entertained the Premier in keeping with his status, and in accordance with our Zulu culture.  Everything went off splendidly.  But to my great shock just about a month after such a cordial meeting I was told by the two IFP Ministers, who were still in the Provincial government that they had received letters from the

Premier delivered by the Director-General Professor Mandla Mchunu, firing them from his Cabinet with effect from the 1st of November the following day.  There was not as much as a notice given or some courtesy explaining to me after our cordial meeting the previous month.

At this year's annual Conference of my Party I reported these things that happened since our last Conference and one of them was my daughter's case and the way she was treated.  Premier Ndebele has written a leader page article in one of our Province's main newspapers lambasting me for mentioning my daughter's case at the Conference.  He makes this an ethical issue in these words:  "At an ethical level it would be acutely embarrassing if an ANC leader were to go to a Conference to complain that he had intervened on behalf of his daughter to be employed in government".  If it were not so sad, it would be laughable that I should be taught lessons in ethics by people who have victimised my daughter, because she was a daughter of their political opponent.  That is the ethical issue.  My daughter had been appointed on merit by the Minister in charge at the time.  She was a Captain in the police and later did a Bachelor of Laws' Degree when she left the Police and worked in another Provincial Government Department.

The diatribe that the Premier has written about me and the erstwhile KwaZulu government is an indication of how important what Professor Vilakazi was trying to do in encouraging some rapprochement in the lecture he delivered in April.

The erstwhile government of KwaZulu which I headed was the most poorly funded by Pretoria because of my opposition to the balkanisation of our country into "independent" mini-states.  Premier Ndebele does not want to face facts.  I mobilized the people of this Province of all races against apartheid.  We are the only Province which had a non-racial Government

structure before 1994, the KwaZulu Natal Joint Executive Authority where both the KwaZulu Government and the Provincial government combined to serve all the people of this Province.  President de Klerk admitted before the TRC that it was my rejection of independence which made them to abandon grandiose apartheid.

I commissioned the well-known firm of Chartered Accountants De Loitte and Touche and they did a survey which came out with the report that on a per capita basis we were less funded as a government than any other territorial government in South Africa.  And yet the things that we accomplished speak for themselves.  We built thousands of class rooms on the basis of a rand for a Rand basis consonant with our belief in self-help and self-reliance.  We built several Teacher Training Colleges all over the Province which the ruling Party closed down. We built several Houses in many townships and helped many budding entrepreneurs to start their own businesses through the KwaZulu Finance and Investment Corporation. We founded the ITHALA Bank which is unique in the whole country.  It is today misused to help more the elite

than the people for whom we founded it.

There is the issue of Ulundi which sticks out like a sore thumb.  The President of the ANC Mr Zuma as is well-known played a role as the MEC for Economic Affairs in this Province in 1994 to 1999.  During that time there were many issues that were dealt with in order to consolidate reconciliation between the ANC and the IFP.  One of these was the use of Pietermaritzburg and Ulundi as Capitals of the Province.  That was the arrangement between

the President of the ANC and Dr Frank Mdlalose in which I and my Party had no say since Dr Mdlalose did not consult me.  I knew of the arrangement ex post factor.  There was however an agreement later that the recommendations of the Racliffe Cadman Commission to use the two centres as Capitals would be in voque until a referendum was held to choose the final arrangement about the Capital.  But the ANC in the Legislature then colluded with the DA in the Legislature and voted for Pietermaritzburg as the sole Capital.  What I find hurtful and difficult to accept is the rationale that the leader of the ANC in the Province Mr Sibusiso Ndebele likes to use that Ulundi had to be discarded as a capital as it was previously the Capital of a "Bantustan".  This is a deliberate distortion of history because we held out against making the territory of 'KwaZulu' a Bantustan.  The areas that became 'Bantustans' so-called, are known to everyone of us.  And in any case that argument is not valid because if in those areas which accepted independence a'la Pretoria, their Capitals such as Bisho and Mmabatho were adopted by the democratic government as Capitals without any stigma. That was the decision of the ruling Party, the African National Congress.

What has happened here is heart-rending.  There was been a plan to destroy Ulundi merely because the leaders of the ANC in this Province hate me with a passion. Because of this, they overlook the important thing that the buildings that have now been abandoned in Ulundi were built by the government through tax-payers' money.  The decision to go to Pietermaritzburg overlooked the fact that these black rural areas where the President of the ANC and I come from, were by-passed by development because they were areas set aside for black occupation.  The establishment of Ulundi in a rural area had many precedents in Africa and South America when one things of the capitals of Tanzania, Malawi, Nigeria and Brazil for examples.  This was done to enable the interior of these countries to get some

development.  To add insult to injury the Cabinet of KwaZulu Natal now intends to establish a new Legislature near Pietermaritzburg at a cost estimated to be more than half a billion Rand.

The worse wastage is that the Cabinet of KwaZulu Natal has moved all departments from Ulundi.  Not only that, they have also moved Regional Offices to places such as Richards Bay because of their agenda to destroy Ulundi.

This has entailed great inconvenience to many civil servants since there is no accommodation for them in Pietermaritzburg. And what is more the Provincial government has hired buildings in Pietermaritzburg at astronomical cost. And that money goes into the pockets of Whites and Indians only. There is no opportunity for any African to benefit from hiring to government any building, since they have none.

I feel that the President of the ANC, coming as he does from this Province, needs to give this issue his attention as it is a gross injustice to do what the ANC leadership in this Province has done merely because they have this hatred for me. It is not Mangosuthu Buthelezi that is punished but the people in this undeveloped Region of the Province who are being punished

through these decisions by the Provincial of our Province.

I thought in wishing both the President and the Deputy President well, I should mention these impediments to reconciliation between our Organisations particularly in this Province.

Inkosi Albert Mvumbi Luthuli was my leader and mentor. Of all the leaders that are living today there is no one amongst the living leaders who worked as closely with him more than I did. I delivered the oration at his funeral, requested to do so by both his family and the ANC Mission-in-exile. The Luthuli Memorial Foundation in London Chairperson Dr Zami Conco requested me to help his widow Mama Nokukhanya Luthuli to make arrangements for the unveiling of his tombstone at Groutville Mission Graveyard. When Inkosi Luthuli was given a post-humous OAU Award, his widow and family requested me to accompany her to Maseru where she received the Award on behalf of her deceased husband from King Mashoeshoe II who presented it on behalf of the OAU. I spoke on behalf of Mrs. Luthuli and the people of South Africa.  Premier Ndebele ends his diatribe with the words: "As we commemorate 40

years of Luthuli's death would it not be fitting Tribute to say his Children are at last working together to achieve ideals advocated by him." It is Premier Ndebele and the leadership of the ANC in this Province who have made sure that such a thing will never happen by the way they have treated me and the IFP.

I end up by adding my congratulations to the leadership of the ANC and the ANC on this important date of the Anniversary of the founding of the African National Congress.

My respects and best wishes.

Yours sincerely in the service of the nation

PRINCE MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI,MP

PRESIDENT-INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY

And on the question of the clear blue water between us and the ANC, let us just return to the subject of this goofy government for a moment. Last week President Thabo Mbeki flatly denied receiving a R30 million bribe to ensure that MAN Ferrostaal won the contract to supply three submarines after readers woke last Sunday to read a sensational expose in the Sunday Times - a story which the newspaper still stands by.

Whilst I personally have no reason not to take the President at his word - indeed I believe him to be a man of honour from my dealings with him over thirty years - we cannot deny that there is a perception that the government and, by extension, the ruling-party, is tainted by corruption. This, my friends, is bad news when our leaders need to be out there batting for South Africa.

If the arms deal is not to corrode trust in the democratic process and South Africa's reputation for probity further, the Presidency must lay all the cards on the table and allow the arms deal to be subject to the forensic light of an independent judicial enquiry. The IFP says, "Let the light flood in and let's get to the bottom of this once and for all". We now know that

the President knew that South Africa could not afford the arms deal as far back as two months into his Presidency in 1999.  A lot of jobs it was promised would flow from the Arms-deal and also other benefits.  It has not happened.  In a way the people were taken for a ride.

The IFP takes the view that greater openness is not just predicted by the Constitution, but that there is a constitutional imperative to ensure that there is a level playing field so that the wealthy cannot purchase influence in secret (which is the nub of the arms deal allegations) and eclipse the views and access of the poor to the decision-making process.

Would the majority poor support the arms deal? Delegates, do your branches support the arms deal? The answer is no. With the deepest respect, Heaven knows who these state-of-the-art submarines are meant to be defending us from; our Brazilians friends to the West or our Australian friends to the East? And obviously the submarines cannot defend us from our landlocked SADC friends to the North!  You get my point!  It's crazy stuff from a goofy

government.

The IFP is of the view - shared by most people in South Africa - that we could not afford the arms deal and that there were much greater pressing priorities such as the provision of a Basic Income Grant. The time has surely come to cancel the second tranche of the arms deal and push the billions into other spending priorities, spending priorities.  

The veil of secrecy covering the details of the arms deal has unfortunately become a trademark of this government. What answers did the public get on the parliamentary travel scandal? What answers do victims of crime get when they question our justice system? Even in Parliament, opposition parties often get no response to the questions we pose to the ruling party. There is a sense that the ANC can do just what it likes, while the people remain

powerless.  There is an entrenched view within the ruling Party that they can do as they please because they have a two-thirds majority in Parliament.  Whoever tries to question what they do, is questioning the two-thirds majority mandate they have, to conduct affairs of the country as they please.

I have seen this time and again in my capacity as Chairman of the House of Traditional Leaders in KwaZulu Natal. There were so many promises that the role and powers of traditional leaders would not be diminished, or that they would be restored. We were assured that traditional leadership would not be reduced to a ceremonial function divested of the capacity to lead communities through customary law, the way we have done for generations. Yet that is exactly what this Government is trying to achieve. It speaks with two tongues. The one proclaims "We will respect you", while the other whispers "You have no future".

Just this week a new Bill on traditional leadership came before Parliament in a second reading debate. This Bill presumes to dictate to our King who he may have on his council, who he may not have and how long they may serve.  They also declare that members of parliament, provincial legislatures and municipalities may not be elected to the House of Traditional Leaders. In other words, anyone with a bit of power is excluded. Can the ANC say with any integrity that they are not trying to strip away our powers?

As they hammer the last nails into the traditional leadership coffin, the plan has become crystal clear. The Executive Council has now given me a deadline to choose between my elected position as Chairman of the KwaZulu Natal House of Traditional Leaders and my elected position as Leader of this Party in the National Assembly. This is their final insult. They just cannot bear to have power rest anywhere but in their own grabbing hands.

So what is the answer? We need a strategy for the future. We need to find a way to do things differently. As Albert Einstein said: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting a different result". If South Africa keeps electing a leadership that is fundamentally flawed, it will keep getting a fundamentally flawed leadership. It is time to do things differently.

We need a leadership that is honest and courageous, and has the integrity to speak with one tongue, even when the message is difficult. The IFP is honest enough to say that the HIV/Aids crisis is so bad that the government needs to roll out anti-retrovirals across the country. We will not say HIV doesn't cause Aids. We won't say take a shower after intercourse to prevent catching HIV. We won't say you should eat garlic and beetroot. We have the guts to say abstain, condomise, be faithful to one partner. You do your share and government must do theirs.  Just recently at the HIV/AIDS Conference in MEXICO, it has been stressed that we in this country are still leading, as far as the highest incidence of this pandemic is concerned.

The IFP has the integrity to say we don't need the arms deal. We need better service delivery. We need to root out corruption at the highest levels. We need accountability for leaders. We need unity within political parties so that the vision is clear. We need to be aware of the long-term prospects after 2010. We need to revolutionise our justice system. We need to implement a basic income grant. We need to leap forward in our development and welcome foreign investment. We need to find practical, government assisted solutions to the problem of food security. We need better health care and better education and better policing.

Let us make no mistake: the times ahead are going to be hard and painful and the whole of the country is ill-prepared for them. Only the IFP holds in its values, experience and wisdom the kernel of the rebirth of a new South Africa once the rapidly approaching long winter of poverty and despair has passed us. The world is moving into rapidly escalating recession, which is bound to have a devastating impact in South Africa. The United States is in a deep recession with no end in sight. Europe has already entered into a similar recession as the German economy, which has been the locomotive of European growth, now registers negative growth. The features of this recession are going to be slow and negative growth, which means less and less jobs and skyrocketing inflation.

All of you have seen how the price of bread and butter alone has increased by 30% in the past few months, which, if related across the spectrum of pricing, means that all of us have lost 30% of all the money we have, as its value has been reduced. Many of us have grown to believe that recessions are a cyclical occurrence which just happen as a fact of nature, like winter follows summer to give way to another winter. But this is not so. Recessions benefit particular individuals, the international money trusts and all those who gain first use of the money once it is printed and before it is devaluated, such as large government contractors.

In today's world, recessions are a war waged by the rich on the poor and the middle class, so as to ensure that all the wealth of a nation is transferred from the poor and the middle class into the hands of an ever diminishing number of rich and powerful, whose faces often remain unseen. In this war of the rich against the poor, we must unite all the people of goodwill of South Africa so that we can survive and prepare the birth of a new South Africa.  This is a struggle on the same scale and magnitude as the one which engaged my generation in transforming South Africa from a country of racial oppression into a democracy.

There is a healthy, honest and dedicated portion of South Africa which is increasingly becoming disenfranchised. These are the people who do an honest day's work for an honest salary to fulfil their honest ambition to raise their children and grow a happy family. These are the people against whom the recession has declared war. These are the people who have no choice but to pay their taxes, which are withheld when their wages are paid, thereby contributing willy nilly to create enormous wealth within the State which gets wasted and transferred to the rich and powerful through Government contracts, luxury and government perks.

The IFP must be the catalyst to bring together all those who are not part of this government gravy train and who do not feed at the trough where the illegal profits of recession and inflation will be collected by the few and powerful. Inflation is the most immoral and despicable form of fraud on the poor and the middle class, as it amounts to a tax on poverty. All those of us with bonds and bank financing on our vehicles will see our payments skyrocket beyond what we can afford, and the wave of foreclosure and repossession will sweep across South Africa in the months to come as it has already swept across the United States and is beginning to sweep across Europe. In this process, the houses and possessions of the poor and the

middle class are acquired by the money trusts in an artificial contraction of the economy which pushes wealth towards the top of the social pyramid.

You will all remember that for many years I warned against the type of economy which would lend itself to this result. For many years I have urged South Africa to develop its economic independence through solid and widespread industrial bases and the liberalisation of market forces.  Unfortunately I was not heard. We need to prepare the ground to rebuild South Africa with the understanding that, because of its economic policies, the IFP alone is the political party which shields and protects the poor, the middle class and the honest people who, with their honest work, keep our country going and allow others to pillage it day in and day out.

The IFP will need to carry this role of real reconstruction in respect of another casualty of the past fifteen years, which is the South African State. For fifteen years you have heard me speaking about the importance of the State being an independent machinery which, irrespective of the government of the day, operates for the benefit of the citizens. The State

and the politicians must be separate, irrespective of who the incumbents are. The State does not belong to the politicians and those in government.  It belongs to the honest citizens whom the State is there to serve with impartiality, dedication and efficiency.

Instead the State has been turned on its head and is now perceived to serve the agenda of those in power and those behind the curtains with the money and influence to pull the strings of those in power.  The State has crumbled and has become absorbed within political party structures. The State no longer serves honest citizens but has become a tool on demand of the corrupted, the powerful and the rich. The battle lines of history have been drawn for a new struggle which now juxtaposes on the one side the poor and the middle class unified by the war waged against them by the rich through an engineered recession and economic crisis, and on the other side all those who have feathered their nests and have ensured that they will survive the recession to come.

One the of most importance battle grounds of this war is to reconstruct the efficiency, dedication and impartiality of the State apparatus so that it may fulfil its promise of serving the citizens, the poor and the disadvantaged first. The truth of the matter is that for most departments, the serving of citizens and the actual delivery of tangible services has become an incident which takes place while they are otherwise busy holding workshops and seminars, travelling abroad, serving the political masters and endlessly discussing, planning and developing policies about what ought to be done, which then never gets done.

We won our liberation to have a State which could serve all of us and attend to our needs. Instead, it seems that all those who struggled for our liberation did so not to win the fruits of freedom for themselves, but to gather such fruits in a basket weaved with their sweat and labour to carry them to the feet of the rich, corrupt and powerful.

We are the party of integrity. We have no ties with the rich, the corrupt and the powerful. We have always dwelt with the poorest of the poor. We are the only party which the poor and the middle class alike can now trust. All those beholden to the rich have already sold out the middle class and done nothing while their wages were being eaten into by rising taxation and

inflation. We call on the unity of all the poor and the South African middle class to create a united front to prepare to fight the rapidly approaching recession and lay the foundation out of which a new South Africa can be born, where freedom really rings for all.

I pledge my commitment to be the catalyst of such a process, which is indeed what I have dedicated my life to for the past sixty years of unwavering political work. It is time for the Buthelezi politics of commitment and honesty to replace the politics of corruption, inefficiency and constant abuse of the poor and the middle class. The Buthelezi policy of honesty and

integrity will need to be entrenched in South Africa at this very critical juncture, even if it is only a kernel of future development, so that it may take root, germinate and prosper long after the time of my departure from this world.

Day in and day out, both night and day, I have worked all my long life to serve South Africa. I do not expect the fruits of my work to mature in their entirety in my lifetime and I sincerely hope that their greatest harvest may come about in the decades to come and remain an asset for our country and its long-term future. I would despair now and for eternity turn in my grave if I were to know that the honesty, integrity and dedication which I tried to bring into the South African political process were not to finally triumph.

For this reason, the next election is crucial to the success of South Africa. The electoral success of the IFP is not merely about the IFP. The electoral success of the IFP is not merely about Buthelezi. The electoral success of the IFP goes way beyond the present time and anything which affects Mangosuthu Buthelezi or the IFP. The success of the IFP holds the key to the rebirth of a new South Africa in which the values of the honest working people of our country can finally be brought to power and a new State apparatus can be forged to serve all the hard working and honest people of our country who have now become the new disenfranchised, silent and battered majority.

We are in a crisis. South Africa needs an answer. The IFP answer is a leadership of honesty, integrity and courage. Let there be truth in thought, truth in speech, and truth in action. It is time to lift this country up. Today, we have made a start.

I thank you.

For more information:

Liezl van der Merwe: 083 611 7470 or Roman Liptak: 083 256 4902