It is a great pleasure for me to be again amongst the people of this region. I have maintained a longstanding dialogue with the people of this region during which we have shared both happy and sad occasions. On this occasion I have come here because we are at a juncture in which the demands that history places on our Party require a dialogue more intense than ever before between me as the President of the IFP and our people at the grassroots. This is a time in which the President of the IFP must go to and walk with our people at the grassroots. This is the time of renewal and regeneration which prepares us to perform a much greater mission and role which history has now called upon us to perform. We have the great responsibility to become the moral and constructive opposition of South Africa, not only in the interest of our constituency, but for the benefit of all South Africans. In the end, when the ANC constituency will need to voice its dissatisfaction with the way in which the ANC is fulfilling its mandate, they will need to depend on the IFP, to voice their concerns.

The IFP is called upon by history to become the voice of the ANC's bad conscience. We are the only party with the credibility, track record and experience required to voice the needs and aspirations of the overwhelming majority of South Africans. We accept the fact that the majority of South Africans gave the ANC a mandate. For now I leave aside how they got it in this Province. However, the same majority must now rely on us to ensure that, that mandate can be fulfilled in the best way possible. One cannot be one's own controller or keeper. A dog does not wear a muzzle of its own initiative. The ANC cannot control itself, or hold itself accountable. A democracy requires checks and balances. The fundamental check and balance is to be able to point out the deficiencies in the performance of the ruling party and to do so in the name and on behalf of those who voted for the ruling party. We can express the voice and concerns of the majority of the South African people and in so doing can carry the final responsibility of holding the ANC accountable and voicing the concerns of its own constituency, over and above our own constituency when the ANC does not deliver.

I have come here today to impress on the IFP constituency the need of recognizing and embracing this new great mission which we now have. We must give to the performance of this mission the full measure of political passion and personal enthusiasm, which one can muster because this mission is extremely important at this hour for our struggle for liberation, for without a solid democracy progress and development will not flourish. I have also come here today to thank you for your hard work and dedication in the campaign for the general election April 14, 2004. I wish to thank wholeheartedly each of our supporters who cast their vote for the IFP. I sincerely wish to thank every member and activist, and all those who campaigned and canvassed for us. To each one of you who delivered leaflets and put up posters and contributed in countless other ways. You worked hard and kept the faith. As your leader I want you to know that I am very proud of you. This time I have not been invited by you to be here, but I have requested to come to you to thank all those who contributed to the over 1 million votes that the IFP received in the last elections.

Even three months on, I know that many of you today are still feeling shocked and stunned by the result which resulted in the IFP losing control of KwaZulu-Natal. Yet, we must not forget that we still won over a million votes and we are by far the largest opposition party in KwaZulu-Natal. We are also predominantly the largest black opposition party, in South Africa. Whenever you feel a little dispirited, a little down, I want you to remember that on the morning of April 14, 2004, over a million people put their cross on the ballot paper against the IFP, not for anyone else. And they did so because of your hard work and dedication. They voted for us because of our unique identity; because our values and beliefs that stroke a chord with them.

Never before as our party's slogan, 'Democracy means the freedom to choose' has been as relevant as it is today. Democracy is a beautiful word and ideal. It is an ideal that many in the country made great sacrifices and even laid down their lives for. As democrats we must respect the voice of the people, and we do. However, we are also deeply aware of the challenges facing democracy and the democrats. Our democracy is in peril because the very dynamics of a healthy democracy are not in place because of the enormous concentration of power, which is now being created in the ANC's hands. We can take pride in the fact that those who voted for the IFP have pledged themselves to the cause of democracy and that therefore South Africa can now count on at least one million committed and dedicated democrats, who can provide to our democracy the required checks and balances. If we are to defend our democracy we must realize and accept its present shortcomings and its future challenges, starting from the flaws of the last election.

I am sorry to say, however, that the 2004 election cannot be described as being truly 'free and fair'. It has emerged since the election, for example, that eleven percent of the people who voted were not registered to vote. 363 000 people voted without being registered to vote. The IFP identified this problem at the outset, but the IEC simply refused to correct it. If democracy is not to be abused and the will of the people not manipulated, then the electoral process cannot be an impressionist exercise. It must be accurate and verifiable. There were many widespread election irregularities and acts of intimidation, which many of you saw with your own eyes, which may have robbed the IFP of victory in KwaZulu-Natal. The Independent Electoral Commission failed to investigate the numerous complaints, which we lodged in good time. They related to massive frauds and many cases of intimidation which took place throughout the Province of KwaZulu Natal. Several people signed affidavits in respect of more than 40 irregularities which the IFP reported timeously, to the IEC, which they ignored. These included the following amongst a list of irregularities. For example the ID's of the National Chairman, Dr. Mtshali and members of his family were not stamped after they voted, as was the case with hundreds and hundreds of other people. This meant that such ID's could be used for voting over and over again. Many people's thumbs were not marked with indelible ink to ensure that they should not vote again. In Durban people were ferried in the Thokomala buses to vote repeatedly in one polling station after another. Rumours were rife of bribes paid to some of those who were in charge at some of the polling stations. These are but very few examples of what happened.

What is more is that more than 1 million voters, most of whom are our supporters did not go to polling stations to vote. This is an indictment on us.

We could not let this stand. After the election, we took the difficult decision to take our case to the Electoral Court. The Electoral Court is a special court that meets to deliberate upon election disputes and, if appropriate, to provide remedy, that is, put right a wrong or injustice. The Electoral Court's decisions are based upon narrow legal and technical considerations, not moral arguments. In order to obtain remedy, which in practical terms would have been a fresh election or the redistribution of seats by the IEC, we would have had to prove, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the election irregularities and acts of intimidation had a "material effect" on the election result. Needless to say, to prove that the outcome would have been different, would have been difficult, if not near impossible.

We were faced with a difficult decision, as we did not want to let down the people, over a million voters of them, who put their trust in us. Nor did we want our case to overshadow the celebration of our country's first ten years of democracy. To contribute to national unity and reconciliation, we decided to withdraw the case. We also did so to keep the issue open in the record of history, so that future scholars can investigate the many frauds which took place without the impairment of a legal decision based on technical grounds rather than factual reality. In doing so, we still achieved a moral victory. We are proud that we placed on public record the widespread irregularities and acts of intimidation that took place. We have laid down a marker for future election polls. The issue is open for debate and, I am sure, will be referred to and referenced in future elections. Our withdrawal of the case did not mean that we were saying the allegations concerning acts of fraud and intimidation did not take place. Not at all. It is not true that we were got at, by our opponents to withdraw the case. I know that many of you were angered by the withdrawal of the case we had taken to the Electoral Court. This is the third reason why I have come here to the uMkhanyakude Municipal District to explain this to you. I do not want this to corrode the confidence that the majority of the people of Mkhanyakude Municipal District have always had in me.

Until the election, KwaZulu-Natal stood alone as the only province that remained outside of the constellation of ANC control, after the Western Cape fell to the ANC in 2001, when the floor-crossing legislation was enacted. The 2004 election delivered the ANC 70% of the votes and 100% of political power. But loosing control of KwaZulu-Natal was not only an electoral setback for the IFP. It was a huge setback for the democratic process in South Africa and the establishment of an alternating system of government. For a genuine democracy demands an alternative to the ruling-party: one which has a real chance of gaining power. Until power smoothly changes hands to another party, South Africa remains a democracy in form but not in substance. I was in Parliament in the last two days and if you were there with me, you would have been surprised to see the sudden transformation amongst us as so-called 'Opposition Parties' into apologists for the ruling Party. A large majority has an effect of intimidating the lily-livered in all similar circumstances.

Democracy is at risk, when the ruling party enjoys such unfettered power. Lord Acton memorably said, "Power tends to corrupt" and absolute power corrupts absolutely." I don't say this because the ANC is the ruling-party. It would be a truth as much if the IFP, or any other party, were the ruling-party. If one reads any newspaper or watches any current affairs programme about South Africa, the recurring theme is that South Africa needs an opposition that is able to keep the government on its toes, 'to criticize and control', and to provide an alternative. The strangest irony is that a government can only be as good as the opposition.

This is my ambition for the IFP. Over the next five years, I want the IFP to be South Africa's premier opposition party: a party of excellence; a party of non-racialism, in which all South African's glorious difference and diversity are cherished; a party with the right commonsense policies for South Africa rooted in real experience. We need to enable our Party to perform this new role and become the voice of all the South Africans who are not satisfied with the delivery of Government or the actions of the ANC. We need to position ourselves to speak on behalf of all South Africans, especially those who do not have a voice because they are marginalized or poor. In order to do so we need to change and renew our own Party to make it more competent, more effective and more relevant. Otherwise these things are easier said than done. I count on our people in the grassroots to understand this mission and perform what this internal transformation now requires of us.

Today, I would like to ask you to put April's disappointment behind us and focus outwards and look to the future. We have been shaken. Let us be spurred into action. The first step of our Party's recovery will be the local government elections towards the end of 2005 - only eighteen or so months to go. The IFP needs to be on battle stations. Our election machinery must be on full alert. I have no doubt that our poor show at the last election was also the product of excessive self confidence. Many of our leaders did not pull their weight because they felt that we had already secured a victory in KwaZulu Natal. We must now reverse the trend and this can only be achieved with increased mobilization and political work. In 1999 we had an electoral setback which however, was reversed by our electoral success in 2000. We must ensure that our electoral success in 2005 changes the trend and reverses the setback of the 2004 elections. This can and must be achieved. All that is required is for each of our councilors to put in the full measure of political work and commitment that he or she is capable of.

Most importantly, each councilor's conduct must be beyond reproach. One rotten apple contaminates the whole batch. Corruption will not be tolerated in the ranks of the IFP. I personally will show anyone guilty of corruption the red card. I call on all councilors to be vigilant and root out any corruption and expose anyone in our midst who is corrupt. This needs to be done now and not on the eve of elections. I know that there are people who have erred and lost their way. I call on them to come clean. The electorate will judge us by our performance and behavior in office. I would like to remind everyone of our councilors that they are the IFP's ambassadors and servants in each community they are represented. We contested the 2000 local government elections with the Charter for Development. The Charter, with its commitments and guarantees of good governance and service delivery, remains binding on all our councilors. It is, in effect, a covenant agreement.

I believe local government is important. The IFP believes that decision-making should be taken at the closest point to the community and the individual as possible.The ruling-party's instinct, on the other hand, is to grasp all power tightly at the centre and to impose decisions in a top-down manner, effectively tying each mayor to the President. In the absence of constituency politics in South Africa, in which Members of Parliament are directly elected, councilors are the closest tier of government to the community. Taking the thread of this argument to its logical conclusion, in the IFP's competing vision of society, local government is the most important tier of government because it is best placed to provide service delivery.

That is one of the reasons why I was disappointed that some of our councilors were anxious to become Members of Parliament, when they had not even completed their present term of office as councilors. The IFP does not exist to promote individual's career paths: it exists to serve the people. Being an IFP councilor is a privilege, not a second best job. If one becomes a councilor with the perception that the position is a stepping stone to greater things, then quite frankly that is the wrong mindset from the beginning. There is no place for careerism in the IFP. We must recommit our Party to the culture of service which I have preached, advocated and practiced all my life. We have spoken about this often but not enough has been done to hold accountable those who failed to live by this fundamental rule of our Party. It is for our people on the grassroots to ensure that their political representatives live and perform up to their expectations. Elected representatives must serve the poorest of the poor, not themselves.

The IFP's role is defined to a large extent by the constituency from which it derives the majority of its support - the rural black poor, and all those across the country, from all races and walks of life, who care about them. Those are the million or so people who voted for us. Let us never forget them. Let us also remember that when we speak on their behalf, we are also speaking on behalf of those who are in similar conditions across the country and even though they voted for the ANC are not adequately served, represented or understood by the ANC. These people have real needs and require real answers. They need and deserve a government which treats the issues of HIV/Aids, crime, corruption, unemployment and poverty as the five national emergencies that they really are. The ANC is continuing to deal with these issues as if they were just five priorities amongst many, rather than five major crises which are forcing our people to die or suffer. Our people are dying and suffering by the millions because of HIV/Aids, crime, unemployment, poverty and the effects of widespread corruption. All this requires action not ideology. The ANC remains bent on speaking ideology while our people are dying and suffering.

We have seen an example of this ANC's propensity to dish our ideology when action is required. This very week in Parliament when President Mbeki speaking in the President's Budget Vote declared that 'we are a government of the left.' Whilst not indicating when he came to that position, Mr Mbeki quoted a British left of centre commentator, Will Hutton, who said that people in Britain - and everywhere - are becoming American neo-liberals. Developing Hutton's paradigm of the left versus right conservatism, Mr Mbeki claimed that acceptance of the neo-liberal agenda - the so-called Washington Consensus - "would shatter the dreams of the millions of our people for a better life." I could not resist a wry smile. But it was only a small smile, because after ten years of ANC rule, the poor majority is becoming poorer, as a new enriched elite emerges. The ruling-party, by its own targets, is not making sufficient progress towards constructing a 'people-centred society'.

As I have said repeatedly, my biggest fear is that the old merciless politics of race will be overlaid with the equally hard and merciless new politics of class. One of the primary tasks of the IFP will be to act as the voice of the poor and marginalised in our society. Part of the renewal of the IFP will be a fundamental policy review and the development of a crisp policy agenda that draws the poor and marginalized into the mainstream of economic activity and opportunity. Not by dividing the cake, as the left would urge us to do, but by making the cake bigger. I don't know if this is neo-liberal or the Third Way, but I am sure it is the right thing to do!

We need action not ideology. Our people are dying and suffering. This is not a football match where we can talk about left and right wings, centre right or centre left. We are not in a University Campus or amongst students discussing theoretical issues of ideology politics. The South African people, especially those who voted for the ANC want action in respect of HIV/Aids, unemployment, crime, poverty and corruption. They have no interest in seeing their President playing ideology or picking up on the Americans. This is when the IFP must speak up and become the voice of reason, not only on its behalf but on behalf of the ANC constituency as well. We are a moral opposition and our strength is backed by the force of our argument and our capacity to speak sense, when others seem to be lost. In so doing what we say carries the weight of the needs and aspirations of the majority of South Africans, and can overpower even those who have concentrated in their hands the totality of power in our country. The biggest singular challenge for any political party that aspires to govern South Africa is to build a counterweight to the ruling-party that coheres around a common set of principles and beliefs, to which people from every walk of life will freely subscribe. This is the mission I have set for the IFP as I have travelled around KwaZulu-Natal over the last month meeting our supporters.

The challenge we face now is to modernize, while at the same time remaining true to our timeless values and principles. This is never easy, but it is a journey that we must undertake. I must tell you today, that without your contribution, the Party is nothing. The renewal of our Party can only spring upwards from our grassroots, from wards and branches. Let us start this process of renewal today. Next month we will be having our Annual General Conference. I would like to say to you what I have being saying to all the meetings that I have addressed. Come to the conference and speak candidly and constructively about the issues that concern you and your community. It is your conference and the IFP is your Party. As your leader, the Conference affords me an opportunity to hear directly from you. I want to hear the unvarnished opinions and ideas of our members.

Franklin Roosevelt, the former American President, once said, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself". I, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, am not afraid. Nor should you be. In every generation, successful political parties have had to renew themselves or die. South Africa needs the IFP. If the IFP did not exist, it would need to be invented. We will not skulk quietly away into the night. We will renew ourselves and rise again. If we rise to the challenge which history has placed before us, it might be the case that our electoral setback was in fact a test which God placed before us to enable us to grow stronger. We can transform this setback into a new mission which may give us an even greater role in the future. We must believe in this mission. We must believe in our destiny. We must believe in our future. We must prepare now for the next local government elections. The preparation must begin today. Tomorrow is just too late. Let us not make the same mistake twice. Let us work hard and we shall win, not only a victory at the next local government election, but indeed a role which secures our democracy and the success of South Africa. We are committed to our success because we are committed to South Africa.