We ended up winning the Province with a clear majority and gaining more than ten percent of the vote overall.

I do believe that, depending entirely on what you do, we can baffle the pundits in 2009 just as we did in 1994. We decided to participate eight days before the day of the election. We had many odds stacked against us. We are now only eight months before the election and again we have many odds stacked against us. The question we should ask ourselves is can we repeat that surprise in spite of so much ground that we have lost since then?

I noticed that the theme of your conference is "The IFP Ready to Govern KwaZulu Natal in 2009". I hope that by the time this conference ends you may know whether this is the case. I state this without suggesting in any way that by choosing such a theme you were biting off more than you can chew. There needs to be a combination of determination and hard work. There is no better formula for success in spite of all the odds.

I hope that when you break up into groups you will seriously look at the mistakes which cost us the loss of the votes that we have had in the 2004 elections and the 2006 local government elections.  Unless each one of you is prepared to stretch yourself to your very limit, we will not be able to pull it off.

I have tried at every level of the Party to spell out some simple things that any party needs to do in order to win an election. I must confess that the generation of people who took my warnings seriously and earned us the 1994 success has by and large disappeared. It is something the so-called analysts often ignore when they speak about what they describe as loss of support. They also ignore the fact that one factor you have to accept even in the older democracies is stay-aways.

In 1999, quite a large number of people stayed away from voting in this province. A big segment of them were actually our supporters who did not do so because they were necessarily opposed to me or the Party. In 2004, an estimated 11 million South African voters who were eligible to vote, did not vote. This indicates that the task on our hands is not just encouraging our members or supporters to vote for us. We need to know that persuading supporters and members to go to the polling stations is the other side of the coin. This will have indicated that we have an enormous task on our hands.

Colleagues, I have found that life is not about living, but about striving. I live with a perpetual sense of urgency because I am aware that my purpose in life is for something bigger than me and those I love. Life is a perpetual struggle.

 There may be people who think that one is bonkers to speak about us being in a struggle after our liberation. The truth of the matter is that the struggle continues, as FRELIMO said after achieving their freedom in Mozambique - ALUTA CONTINUA!
 

In the case of older members of the IFP, they will remember that I warned of this long before we achieved our freedom. I stated that when our struggle for our political emancipation ends, it will be the beginning of our struggle against our economic enslavement. We had many hurdles to jump over before we achieved political freedom in 1994.

The challenges we face in 2009 are formidable and are greater than any previous generation have had to face. The answers are less immediately obvious: somewhat greyer maybe than the fight against apartheid. The issues we must wrestle with - food scarcity, xenophobia, HIV and Aids, political instability - to name a few, seem insurmountable. But we are duty bound to rise to them all. And the problem is, when the centre collapses, everything seems to disintegrate together. We have to face up to the challenge. For us, there is no place to hide.

No political party, including the IFP as we have found, has a God-given right to govern. The ANC provincial government may be in office - and, my goodness, how they love being in office - but the problem is that they are not in control. It is almost like the pilot who cannot stop his aircraft plummeting to earth. You've seen it in the movies. He wildly pulls this lever, then another, but the dials are spinning wildly and he cannot stop the plane's freefall. The ANC provincial government just doesn't know what to do. They are completely out of their depth. They may have billions in their budgets, but most of them do not have the faintest idea what to do with those billions!

In the midst of this political freefall, our country seeks credible alternatives, and if we fail to provide them, we only have ourselves to blame.

The general election, just eight months away, will be make-or-break time for multi-party democracy in the new South Africa. If the IFP and other opposition parties do not close the gap numerically with the ruling party we are in danger of moving to a de facto elective dictatorship. The opposition needs muscle to take the ANC on in Parliament and the country. At present, they have free range to do what they like.

We have a real crisis of leadership on our hands. Let us be absolutely clear about this when we campaign ahead of the elections around the Province and the country. The first task where each one's individual effort will be required will be to consolidate our core support through comprehensive voter registration. Let us do first things first. Let us ensure that every member or supporter has an ID book. Let us make sure that each one of them is registered at the right polling stations.

During a by-election in Richard's Bay, I found that some activists of the ANC registered people at the wrong voting stations deliberately. I met young people who could not vote, as they were deliberately registered by some of the ANC activists in charge of this at the wrong polling stations. So checking this is extremely important.

Even before we embark on the official campaign trail, we will have to be able to say that all our loyal supporters - even the ones who have not had the chance to vote IFP before - have been placed on the common voters' roll. This is going to take a lot of time, energy and discipline but I have no doubt in my mind that - together - we can and will accomplish it.

 We must enter the upcoming election campaign with the tactical advantage of having all our ducks in a row, so to speak. We may have the best conferences, such as this one, and have successful rallies and marches. But all these very good things will not help us if we do not have all our ducks in a row.

Integrity is fast disappearing from public life and as it is giving way to high-profile media trials - where even the members of the national cabinet are being confronted with their apparently unsavoury past - it is up to us in the political opposition to uphold standards of common decency. I must congratulate the Leader of the Opposition, Dr Mtshali, and other members of the Legislature for exposing some of the corruption in the ruling party in the Legislature.

We must be honest enough to call a spade a spade and identify accurately the challenges facing this province and country in our deliberations during this conference. But we must also apply the same principles when we appraise our own respective contributions to the work of our Party. The aim of this conference must be to ensure that this great work is shared equally among all of us who call the IFP home. We must not come here to this conference with the

attitude: "If you scratch my back, I will scratch yours"!

One particular resolution that should emerge from this conference will be a genuine test of individual integrity. We have undertaken to monitor the performance of our branches and report on their progress truthfully and at regular intervals. This is in the interest of enhanced member accountability as well as improved party mobilisation on the ground where our drive for full voter registration and our subsequent 2009 election campaign will matter the most.

In less than a year's time not only we but also the ruling party will be facing an election. The provincial government, from which we were unceremoniously turned out, is in shambles. The ruling party is increasingly dogged by charges of corruption, fraud and maladministration, and continues to be plagued by deep divisions. Not much time or energy is left, I imagine, in such unhappy circumstances, for finding solutions to HIV/Aids, poverty, unemployment or crime. They have no time for that. All they have time for is to lick their wounds and to jostle for Cabinet positions in both the next national government and in the next provincial government.

We all know that in the aftermath of the dastardly xenophobic attacks that the most immediate problem is food security. South Africans who are hungry believe, wrongly, that foreign residents are taking food and jobs. We must be tough on xenophobia and tough on the causes of xenophobia. The roots of such decadent lawlessness lie in an entrenched national malaise. Last Monday I visited the people of the South Coast Ugu District of all races who have been devastated by the recent floods. It was a heart-rending experience.

The muscle of the state is needed in the strategic fight against poverty.

Failure to find solutions quickly will, I fear, result in the widespread rioting and looting that we have witnessed in countries from Egypt to Indonesia. The consequences for our already fragile national unity, as I recently said in the Presidency Budget Vote, are simply too terrible to comprehend. I have been warning about the extreme poverty in our rural areas, which has been worsening since we achieved our political freedom in 1994. I have constantly lamented the death of our rural subsistence economy. My worry was food security.

The IFP must use the remainder of our time in opposition to sharpen our policy responses to these challenges. In this regard, this conference must generate a pool of valuable ideas based on individual or community experience to feed into the outstanding work of the Core Group and the public consultation sessions.  These sessions really have been amazing and we, as politicians, must learn to trust the judgement and the innate commonsense of the South African people.

The resolutions of this conference will have to be ones we can implement.

Words and promises are the domain of the ruling party. That is one thing we can never beat them at! We have to outdo them with deeds and tangible delivery.

I must also say something about my personal role. As the leader of this Party, I have always led from the front. Week in and week out, I go around this province and the country to try and build this Party into the formidable political force you and I know it can be. I won't mince my words. I am a politician to the tips of my fingers. I love this country and I relish the job I do. I would not do it if I were not so passionate.

The main reason that I am so passionate is that I have had the good fortune to lead such a full life. I have a wonderful family and great friends. I have served in one of the highest offices in the land and have had the privilege of sometimes being an agent of change.

I found my purpose long ago which is to serve my people until the day I draw breath for the last time. As you know I am privileged to hold several public positions, but the most important, in terms of influencing the direction of this country, is my leadership of this party. The IFP was established to be a heat-seeker not a heat-deflector; to be a mighty crusade for political liberation and social justice.

My only regret is that time moves on so fast and one dares not waste a minute of it. Do you feel the same way? I am obviously not saying that every person will get to do all the things I have done, but I do believe that they should have the opportunity to go as far as their God-given talents will take them.

Glass-ceilings exist to be shattered!

There are those in the media and in the Party, some of whom are here today, who say the IFP is a "one man show". We know this is not true and that this Party enjoys many faces and personalities. The commentators say that no political party can prosper on the image of its leader alone. I could not agree more. The IFP simply cannot depend on my performance alone.

To my critics who accuse me of playing an over dominant role I have this to

say: nothing would make me happier than to see my critics become doers. I want members of this Party to become leaders in their communities. I get inundated with countless invitations to attend fundraising dinners or party events. I will never say no.

But have some of you thought that you - yes you! - could be the guest speaker at your local party event? In other more established democracies, Members of Parliament and Mayors make most of the keynote speeches in their constituencies or draw the prize raffle. The party leader or other party luminaries might visit a constituency once or twice a year at the most. Think of the example that was set for you by our former Premier, Dr Lionel Mtshali.

Or take our colleague, Mr Narend Singh. I am just choosing him randomly. How do you think he developed the profile he enjoys amongst his community? This I can tell you: he did not develop it by staying at home waiting for me to drop by! No. Over the years he has developed community projects and honed his speaking skills. People know what Mr Singh is about and what he stands for.

Recently the Honourable Premier of our Province, Dr Ndebele, decided to give me gratuitous advice that because he is retiring as the leader of the ANC in this province, I must also retire. Another pipsqueak in the ruling party also wrote a letter to the editor of one of our newspapers saying that I can't achieve now what I have not achieved in 32 years of this Party's existence.

I was surprised that the leader of the ANC was posturing as if he had any choice about leaving his position as leader of the ANC in this province voluntarily. He had no choice. There is no one who doesn't know how he has been treated by the youth and adult members of his party in this province.

Even some of his ministers have treated him in a manner no head of government should be treated by his appointees. I remember an occasion where they left him at a function attended by His Majesty the King, which was a serious breach of protocol. I reminded the Premier that on two occasions I tried to step down and was prevented by all delegates to conference from doing so.

We have never tried to undermine any other party in the country. But we remember how the Premier stated how sick and tired he was of the IFP after the 2004 elections, and how he was going to work with Nadeco instead of the IFP.

We remember how he was received so warmly by me and my family at our home. But within weeks he ditched our two MECs without so much as a word of warning to me and the IFP. I found it strange that such a person should now give me and the IFP gratuitous advice.

The Premier has repeatedly stated that the ANC is going to win this province with a two-thirds majority or with 60 percent of the votes. I will not argue with the Premier on these predictions. Perhaps he knows from some of you that you are going to betray our Party, because there may be just too many of our leaders who are playing Patsy-under-the-table with the ANC leaders such as Dr Ndebele. I do not know.  The Premier could not count his chickens before they are hatched unless he knows what he is talking about.

People must not bother so much about the actual date of my retirement. That is a matter between me and the Party. It is clear that I will not be the leader of the IFP ad infinitum. I have indicated this. But I promised the Party that I will lead the Party, as difficult as it is, during the forthcoming 2009 general election. We have many good leaders in this Party. I only wish to assure the Premier that in all government posts I have held, I never tried to seize the opportunity to line my own pockets. Maybe it is stupid of me not to, when I see how some people in the current provincial government are already in clover after such a short period of time.

People go into politics for different reasons with different priorities in mind. My priority has always been to serve and to serve only. I have had no intention of retiring when I am better off than I was when I began my humble service to the people of this province and of South Africa.

I now challenge each of you to become the keynote speakers and special guests at rallies. We could all take the limp-wrist view: "Ah, but South Africa is not like other democracies. It will be years before MP's or councillors become household names." Or, on the other hand, we could step out and try it. It is not for me to tell other political parties how to act, but I am sure we could all start to bridge the "democratic deficit" if communities got to know their councillor or MP a little better. At the moment, people are complaining that they do not know their councillors. Can we as representatives use the next eight months to fully cooperate with party structures in our areas where we are MPs or councillors?

In the end, democracy is about liberty; freedom. In order to practise liberty, a nation must have a critical mass of individuals who truly grasp it. That places a great emphasis upon you as party activists. Well-constructed institutions and well-crafted texts, as we have tragically seen in Zimbabwe, do not of themselves ensure democracy and freedom.

If only liberty had been practised there, an involuntary African Diaspora with the flood of refugees from Zimbabwe into South Africa could have been avoided.

If liberty had been practiced in Zimbabwe, Mr Morgan Tsvangirai would not have had to seek refuge in the Dutch Embassy. Our liberty must be fought for each day. We must strive unceasingly to narrow the divide between intent and the real lives ordinary South Africans lead.

As far as what is happening in Zimbabwe is concerned, let me remind the people of South Africa of the following. During the last election in Zimbabwe, the IFP sent its team of monitors just as much as the ruling party and other political parties did. The verdict of the IFP team of election monitors was that the election in Zimbabwe was not free and fair. The same view was held by the European Union team of monitors and also by the Chairperson of the IEC in South Africa, Dr Brigalia Bam. The ruling party and the South African Government declared that election free and fair. This is how President Mugabe was misled in the past. It is no use shouting "foul" now.

And this, dear friends and colleagues, brings me directly to the most important matter today. This evening you will have the opportunity to elect your new provincial executive. The entire provincial executive is being contested. This executive will lead and guide the provincial party into the 2009 general election. We need a provincial executive that is close to, and really understands, the needs of our supporters and potential supporters. We need leaders who are prepared to serve, not just be. I appeal to you to make your choice carefully without fear or favour.  Much depends on how you cast your ballot tonight.

With the government in disarray and the ruling-party divided there is a historical opportunity that has opened up for any opposition party, including the IFP, which might only come once in our lifetime. Will we seize it? A winning team is constituted of individuals who wake up each morning determined to give of their best. That is why we need leaders who are close to the hopes, needs and aspirations of the people. It is this proximity to the people that makes all the difference to our communities.

I would finally like to thank every one of you for coming to Pietermaritzburg to participate in this conference. I would also like to thank the IFP provincial leadership and staff for organising this first-class event. You are wonderful people for whom I have the deepest affection, and we are a great Party.

Let us never forget, as I've so often said, we are the servants and the people are the masters. For the sake of our people and for our own, we can and must prevail.

I thank you.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Mr Jon Cayzer: 084 555 7144
Liezl van der Merwe: 083 611 7470