We have gathered to prepare for our Annual General Conference in two week's time. We meet at an important time in our country's history and for our Party.

As a Party we have been tested by the forces of history and found to be strong. Our liberation credentials are solid and our integrity as servants of the people is intact. Our conscience is clear. 

We have always been consistent in the things we have stood for. Many have vilified us and tried to write us off, but we have prevailed. Things have always been far from easy. Sometimes, we lost a battle or two only to win the war and prove others wrong in the end. That is the cut and thrust of politics. 

We can be proud that over the last thirty two years, the IFP has made a tremendous and unique contribution to the quality of democracy and political debate in South Africa. The IFP has persistently offered solutions to South Africa's crisis of leadership throughout the 1970's, 1980's and the 1990's.

You will recall that we lost over 400 of the cream of our leaders in the low intensity civil war between the IFP and ANC in this period. You will recall that we were often marginalised from the political process. 

Yet our opposition to the ANC on many matters of policy during the struggle against apartheid represented a multiplicity of voices. We believed this was the prerequisite for a genuine post-apartheid democracy. We passionately held the belief that a non-racial democracy would prevail against all odds in South Africa. 

We can be proud of our role in dismantling apartheid by refusing independence for KwaZulu and in establishing the Joint KwaZulu-Natal Executive Authority, the first multiracial government structure in South Africa. Once again, today, the IFP is called upon to provide leadership to a nation which is not receiving the leadership it deserves and needs. 

We can be proud that our enduring philosophy of self-help and self-reliance has stood the test of time and experience. People have had enough of empty promises. They want to see a return to conviction politics. Never before in our nation's history have our values been as relevant as they are today. The IFP are the peoples' champions. The ANC believes in the dead hand of the central state, whilst it is inside the local community where Inkatha's spirit resides. 

The IFP has always operated within the limits of representative democracy. Yet we have never perceived the popular mandate as a limit to what we, as a party, wanted to achieve. The people have always supported us for what we stand for: the timeless values of self-help, self-reliance and selfless leadership. 

We must walk tall and be proud. We can take pride in being IFP. We can be proud that we are not the ANC. I am very fond of the ANC. I come from an ANC house and my political roots run deep in that movement. 

Yet, today I would not be proud to be ANC. The cracks are fast appearing under what has been, until now, a carefully maintained image of unity. The tripartite alliance is crumbling. This in itself is no bad thing for there really are no convictions to glue this dubious alliance together. This leaves the traditional ANC voters wondering what their party really stands for. I don't expect many answers to be emanating from the ANC's policy conference in Midrand today. 

There have been moments when the IFP has been important to the making of the history of South Africa. This is one of them. This is our moment! This is time to prepare to retake the province! This is the time to show South Africa what the IFP is made of! 

 As I said elsewhere before, the difference between the ANC and the IFP is the difference between what South Africa is today and what it could and should be tomorrow. The difference is in both content and form.  The purpose of this Conference is to rebuild the IFP as a proud Party ready to go to battle. This is not the time for navel gazing introspection. This is not the time for endless workshops. This is not the time to ask ourselves what our policies are. We know what we are and what we stand for. We have not changed our policies, not because we are stubborn, but because South Africa needs them now more than ever before. 

This is not the time for explaining who we are. South Africa knows who our constituency are and respects our integrity and vision. We do not need to explain who we are. We simply need to get out there and be seen. 

I am concerned about the preparedness of branches for the Annual Conference and, more generally, about the Party's visibility in the communities in the run up to the 2009 General Election. 

I therefore appeal to you ensure that the IFP has maximum visibility between now and the Conference. In this period, we must have a visibility campaign which everyone can implement themselves. Wear an IFP tee-shirt, badge or lapel wherever you go, at all times, everyday. 

I appeal to those of you who have access to the internet to send out e-mails to everyone you know promoting the IFP. We must take pride in the moral leadership we offer to the nation. This conference is not only about party political matters. Nor can it be about only electing leaders. 

It must also be about defining the party structures programmes that our leaders are going to pursue and how they will be implementation. All too often the work of conferences is seen to be complete once the conference is over.

Our work actually begins when we leave this venue. 

I want this Conference to mobilise all of you into action and, in turn, each one of you to mobilise all your friends, neighbours and community. Now is the time to reach out into new constituencies. Often one feel's shy and does not know how one will be received. At times, in the past, you were afraid of rejection, condemnation or even physical aggression. 

These times are now thankfully behind us. Now is the time for us to proudly and boldly go where the IFP has not gone before. My simple message to you today is not to loose heart. Now is the time to capitalise on the sacrifices we have made and the anguish we have had to endure. If we fail now, we will have no one else to blame, but ourselves. 

Let this conference create the right spirit to motivate, inspire us to conquer the political terrain which is now open to the IFP. 

I thank you.