SAFA-SIMBA STADIUM: PIMVILLE, SOWETO 25 January 2009

I wish to begin my address by stating just simple facts of the matter as far as elections are concerned.  I realise that the citizens of our country are now being bombarded with all sorts of promises, many of which will never be realised even in our lifetime.  Representatives at all levels of government are elected in order to administer the citizens’ money.  That is tax-payers’ money.  Budgets can be as high as they can be, but the crucial thing is who will be dispensing that taxpayers’ money.  The criteria for this as far as I am concerned is whether the people that citizens elect are people who are honest, people of integrity.  And people who are not corrupt.  That should be the yardstick.  People who have these qualities are scarce in Africa and not least in our own country.  Citizens have to be certain that the people they elect are people who they are certain will administer the government funds, which is another name for tax-payers money with honesty and integrity.

Today I am again in Soweto, to continue the long-standing dialogue I have had with the people of Soweto. I am aware that Soweto pulsates with South Africa’s heartbeat. Today, from Soweto, I speak to the whole of South Africa. Indeed, with your presence and support - and through the live coverage that this event is now receiving - all of us are today sending a clear and loud message to the whole of South Africa.

The message which emerges today from Soweto and from here resonates across the hills and valleys of our beloved country, is a message of change and hope. Once again, the winds of change are about to sweep this country, bringing about redress to its problems. Time and again this country of ours has proven it has immense capacity for renewal. The problems, ailments, corruption, shortcomings and failures our Republic has thus far experienced have mounted a great expectation for change to come. Today, we begin a process to turn the hope for change into reality.

South Africa needs a tried and tested alternative. The people of South Africa can no longer rely on false promises, and reward at the polls those who make the wildest and largest promises. We heard the promises, and the South African people have extended fifteen years of credit and benefit of the doubt to those who made them. Fifteen years later, the people of South Africa are beginning to face the reality of false promises, failed leadership and breached trust.

The country is morally bankrupt. We now need to bring about a change in leadership which shifts the moral bases of this country from those who are greedy, incompetent and corrupt, to those who have commitment, competence and integrity.

At the opening of each election, every political party launches its manifesto to present its policies and make its electoral promises. The day after elections, many of these promises are forgotten and policy documents gather dust while those in government pursue their own agenda, for their own benefit. The people of South Africa are brought in to be important during the few months of the electoral process, only to be pushed back into irrelevance and forgotten the day after elections. Unless we change this, anything contained in policy documents and manifestos is irrelevant.

The first commitment of the IFP is that of bringing the people of South Africa to power by respecting the electoral promises made. We have a tried and tested track record of not making false promises and of keeping the promises we make.

Time and again we have warned the people of South Africa that the road ahead will be hard and uphill. History proved that I was right; - and I take no pride in having foreseen the difficulties ahead. I wish they had not been there. But they were; - and they have been ignored.  As our country calls for change and seeks an alternative, the IFP, its leaders and its policies remain the tried tested and trusted alternative on which we must all rely to seek renewal.  

For too long, those in power have adopted policies stating one thing, while doing another. The first requirement of this election is to open the doors of power to those who say what they do and do what they say. The country can no longer tolerate a political elite concerned about distributing economic favours, deals and enrichment opportunities to their friends and their friends’ friends, while the poor become poorer day after day.

South Africa is ready to shrug off all those who have taken a free ride on her back for fifteen years. For too long, those who have reached power have forgotten where they came from and have concerned themselves with luxury homes, luxury trips and a luxury lifestyle; -while the electoral promises embodied in their fancy manifestos lay forgotten in the dustbins of history.

The first and most important policy which is now to be pursued is placing the people of South Africa first. We need to take cognisance of how our government has failed us. In spite of the best policies, immense international assistance and endless government programmes, South Africa has now the highest infection of HIV/Aids. No greater failure could be imagined than this tragedy.  

Court battles had to be fought to force government to do against its will what any conscientious government would do of its own accord and as its first priority. Hundreds of thousands of children died unnecessarily because their mothers did not receive drugs which could have prevented them from being infected with HIV at birth. This is a tragedy which could and should have been prevented.

If the electorate of South Africa fails to hold accountable those who have caused hundreds of thousands of deaths among the most innocent segment of our population, our Republic has failed; -and perhaps we do not deserve the democracy for which we have fought so tenaciously for generations. If South Africans let them get away with this type of carnage, what else should they not feel entitled to do next. 

To this day, anti-retroviral drugs have not reached all those who need them, and the syndrome of denial continues as if people were no longer dying of Aids at a dramatic rate. How can we justify a political class which is not moved by such a hecatomb and cannot distribute basic drugs to its needy citizens? It is time to retire them to better pastures. It is your responsibility to do so.

For twenty-five years I have warned the ruling party that the culture of rebellion, lawlessness and insurrection which they spread throughout South Africa would create an uncontrollable wave of crime. For fifteen years, I have warned them that very little was being done to implement their own policies to fight crime and maintain law and order. Fifteen years later, we are faced with the result which is before everyone’s eyes. The country is at war with itself; - as everyone has either been a victim of crime or lives in fear of becoming one.

The poor and most vulnerable segments of our population are being most severely hit by crime. Women and the elderly in townships are being systematically attacked by bands of youths who are out of control. Violent crimes, stabbings, rapes and murders have become daily occurrences in all communities.  More people are dying or being injured in crimes in South Africa than in areas which the word classifies as being at war.

The ruling party has failed to deal with crime, and has shown a distinct propensity to do nothing about it. Crime is a clear example of the huge gap between what is said and what is done. Unless the next elections hold accountable those who have failed us, this situation is going to become worse.  

We thought we saw the bottom of how bad the failure to manage crime could be; -but nothing could prepare us for the spectacle of the incrimination of the head of the Police, the persecution of the head of the National Prosecuting Authority, and the constant attack on judges and the judiciary. What hope does the flock have when its sheepdogs tear one another apart, rather than guarding it against the approaching wolves? We need change to bring hope to this otherwise lost fight against crime. 

Still, the plague of crime which has afflicted our country seems not as bad and out of control as corruption is. For fifteen years the ruling party has made electoral promises, published policies and adopted laws ostensibly to fight corruption.  More than many others, this issue proves how the present course is hopeless; -and unless there is change there will be no hope for our Republic to achieve the goals of justice, progress and development which motivated our liberation struggle.

Corruption is the smoking gun of an entire mindset within our ruling elite; the mindset of saying one thing and doing another. In spite of all the pledges against corruption, corruption has now permeated our society from the very top to its very bottom; - to the point that, even on an occasion like this, I need not give an example to prove the point. For all my fellow citizens know that corruption now dwells everywhere.

The past fifteen years have brought us a lot good, and a great deal has been achieved to lay the foundation for a better society. But the failures we are now faced with are far too large and too many to be excused or forgotten. The electorate has a moral, constitutional and historical responsibility to hold those in government accountable for these failures; -failing which we would be giving them the licence to fail us again, and again, and again.  It is only by holding them accountable that we can bring the South African people back into power. 

Another inexcusable failure is the disintegration of our education system. In spite of all the ANC’s policies --some of which were good-- the education system has proven to have failed our youth. Nothing could be regarded as more important than the education of our youth; -for an uneducated youth leads to a non-performing country, which spells out the demise of our future.

Fifteen years after liberation, we now have an entire generation which has been educated exclusively under the new curriculum and education system. The results speak for themselves, and decry a tragedy of immense proportions. Our children are failing, in large numbers, matriculation exams which have already been made less stringent and less demanding.  

This is happening not because our children have suddenly become less intelligent; -but because the machinery required for their education, formation, stimulation and assistance has become more inefficient, more corrupt and more unproductive. The main cause lies at the feet of government; -ranging from the choice of textbooks, to their printing and distribution, as well as how teachers have been treated and remunerated, and the appalling condition of our classrooms and educational materials. This is in spite of our country spending 20% of its budget on the education of its children, which is proportionally among the highest in the world. 

Why should we not hold accountable and punish at the elections a government which has failed to save those who were sick, protect those who were in danger, bring to justice the culprits of hideous crimes, stop corruption and educate our children? If we fail to hold them accountable, we have failed our very duty to be responsible citizens of a democratic society; -and will have indirectly endorsed all these tragedies which have befallen us as post-liberation self-inflicted injuries.

It is time for the people of South Africa to stand up and demand something better. If not, as the future unfolds, we are not just going to have more of the same, but much worse.

One of the worst failures of this government is its abysmal track record in dealing with poverty. Without a profound change of policies and leadership, the next five years are bound to see poverty increase beyond our worst fears; -creating an explosive situation which may tear the country apart and jeopardise everything achieved through liberation.  

Having spent my life struggling for our liberation, it pains me immensely to acknowledge that there is deeper and wider-spread poverty today than there was before liberation.

For the past fifteen years, no other issue or theme has received as much attention as poverty and employment generation. Innumerable policies, statements, summits, conferences, workshops, speeches and promises have been dedicated to this. A sense has permeated government that a lot was being done about poverty and employment generation, merely because these issues were constantly spoken about.  In a sort of state of altered reality, the government elite have confused words with actions. For as many words, promises and resolutions we have had; -so few concrete actions have been taken to alleviate poverty and generate employment.

This took place while the cows were fat, and the world carried South Africa along in the longest and richest period of global prosperity in recorded history. These were the heydays of prosperity. And yet the majority of the people of South Africa became poorer and suffered.

Make no mistake. The season of the fat cows is over, and we are entering the cold and dark winter of thin and dying cows. It is only the irresponsibility of the government elite which continues to project the fib that South Africa is going to be shielded from the wide-ranging economic crises which has brought economic powerhouses to their knees, including Europe, the United States and --to a certain extent-- China.   Global warming will also have a devastating impact on our agriculture.

We are going to suffer, and we are going to suffer hard. And we cannot rely on those who have denied this imminently impendent problem to provide any solution to it. Those in power have denied the existence and dimensions of the HIV/Aids pandemic, to the point of questioning the connection between HIV and Aids. They have ignored the plague of crime. They have covered up the cancer of corruption. They are still to acknowledge the failure of our education system. And throughout, they have laboured under the perception that something was being done about poverty and unemployment merely because they spoke about it so often.  

Now they are telling us not to fear an imminent economic collapse, and that the country is doing well. They obviously live in a different universe than the one the rest of us share. I live in a universe in which the price of food is doubling and tripling. People are losing jobs all around me, while young people are dying of HIV/Aids, and poverty is growing by leaps and bounds.

I have lived amongst the poorest of the poor all my life and I only need to walk down the street to see what is happening. I don’t get my information from dubious government reports and statistics, but from the people of this country with whom I have struggled, laughed, cried, prayed and worked for the past seventy years. I know my fellow citizens; -for South Africa and I are one. I have never left the South African people, especially the poor and suffering.

Nobody in his right mind could believe that we can continue as we have in the past fifteen years. Nobody who is honest with himself can run away from the need to bring about change in South Africa. We cannot impose upon our country beloved new adventures or experiments. Our country requires an alternative; -and deserves nothing less than a tried, tested and trusted alternative.  

On this occasion, the IFP is launching its manifesto. We have developed our policies in a dialogue with all the people of South Africa.  They are sound and reasonable solutions to the dramatic problems we have. They don’t contain any wild policy, but the honest and decent common sense which has thus far been lacking in our government.

There is nothing extraordinary or particularly new in our policies; -and we should be faulted if fifteen years down the road we announced extraordinary changes in what we have advocated with consistency for the past thirty-three years. This is not the time to explore new policies. Rather it is the time to recognise that, had the country adopted and implemented the policies that the IFP has consistently proposed, we would not be in this mess.

This election is not about policies. Any man or woman with common sense, from any community in South Africa, knows what needs to be done. This election is about empowering common sense, and liberating the South African people from the yoke of a political elite which has perceived governance as making promises, publishing policies, making statements and delivering speeches; - all while doing little or nothing of what they preached.

We are launching our manifesto to underpin our pledge to turn the page from empty promises to commitment. Whether from the opposition benches or in the seat of government, the IFP and myself can be trusted and relied upon to raise our forceful voice, and bring to bear our powerful political action, to transform policy into actual delivery. Whenever and wherever we have had the opportunity to govern, we have proven our capacity to deliver and the habit of showing our policies through our track record. 

We are making ourselves the vehicle through which the South African people can express their urge to bring renewal in our country. Our policies, our commitment, our political action, and my personal unwavering efforts, can bring about the required solution to the core and essential problems of HIV/Aids, crime, corruption, poverty, unemployment and a failing education system.  

If we solve this core pool of problems, our country will be on its way towards recovery and will be able to weather the economic storm which is now mounting. If we don’t solve this pool of problems, our Republic is doomed; -and the electorate of 2009 will be remembered as having foregone for itself and its children the gains which many generations struggled for.

This is an historical challenge which faces the people of South Africa in 2009. It is time for South Africans to prove that they have grown into the adulthood of full citizenship and, through their electoral vote, can solve the country’s problems and give it guidance by bringing about the required change.

We place hope in this change; -knowing well that change for change sake is not the solution. Change must rely on tried, tested and trusted alternatives, supported by tried, tested and trusted policies, which may rely on tried, tested and trusted leadership.  We need the IFP!

May God bless the South African people and give all of us the strength to face the challenges ahead. The road ahead is going to be tougher than many imagine, and will only be navigated if we come together as South Africans of goodwill. It is time to stop corruption and get out of government all those who place their self-interests before those of the South African people.

Only leaders who express and genuinely believe in a culture of service can harness the best forces of the South African people. This country is much healthier, stronger, morally righteous, morally clean, energetic and productive than its political leadership. Let us correct this at the next election.

Let us invoke upon all of us the guiding and inspiring protection of God Almighty.  May God bless you all!  May God bless South Africa!