by:
Hon. Mbongeleni Joshua Mazibuko; IFP MPL
Friday, 22 March 2019
KwaZulu-Natal Legislature, Pietermaritzburg
Hon. Speaker and Hon. Members; at the outset, the IFP wishes to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt gratitude to you Hon. Speaker for having steered this ship with dignity and composure throughout our term in this House. Our thanks also go to the leadership of this House, to all our colleagues and all officials for the spirit of ubuntu-botho through which we have conducted this Fifth Term of the KwaZulu-Natal Legislature.
The IFP therefore extends its good wishes to every Member as we leave this Chamber to canvass support for our respective parties. Yes, some will not return to this House after elections. However, whatever the future dictates for each of us, we wish each Member to always know that we will forever cherish the moments we have spent together in this House.
Hon. Speaker, I wish also to register the IFP’s profound gratitude to the people of this Province who realised in 2014 that this House would not be complete without the presence of the IFP. I wish to assure them that we tried our best to carry out the mandate they gave us in to be their watchdogs. We won some battles and lost others.
The IFP also wishes to remind the people of this Province that we still have an unfinished business with them. The journey that we had walked with them from the dark days of apartheid to 1994 and from 1994 onwards, was halted when they in 2004 chose to withdraw the mandate they had given the IFP. Fortunately, they have had ample time to assess the pre- and post-2004 eras.
Our appeal to them is that May 8, 2019 presents an opportunity for them to yet again join hands with the IFP and resume our journey. We are appealing to them to give us their mandate again so that we will attend to the unfinished business. I must assure them that they can TRUST US to turn their winter of unemployment, hunger, crime and homelessness into the summer of fulfilled promises and plenty jobs, safety and security and home for each.
Let them TRUST THE IFP in 2019