FINAL CAMPAIGN RALLY OF THE INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY AHEAD OF THE 7 MAY 2014 ELECTIONS

ADDRESS BY PRINCE MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI MP PRESIDENT OF THE INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY

Ulundi: 4 May 2014

This has been one of the most incredible election campaigns I have ever experienced. Everywhere I went in the last few months I could see the tide turning, I could sense the rising of a revolution of goodwill.

In every community across our country people are talking change. South Africans are ready to close a door on the first twenty years, acknowledging both the victories and the losses; and open a new era for democracy. This will be an era in which another Marikana cannot happen, and the killing of the protesters such as Mr Andries Tatane in Free State with live ammunition, and never again will we be under the thumb of corrupt, weak and selfish leaders. The time for change is here!

Twenty years ago South Africa's Government changed hands. Over the course of almost twenty years before that, the IFP helped forge this change. Today the call for change is rising again from our communities and churches, and from the streets and homes of struggling South Africans. It is a call that will echo through the ballot box on Wednesday. It will resound in every cross placed next to the IFP. Over almost forty years, South Africans have seen what the IFP can do. You know us. You trust us. And we are here to serve.

Our campaign message has been unique. We have not tried to bully you, or buy you or intimidate you into giving us your vote. Instead, we have told you the truth. The IFP has carried a message into every community that "The Power is Yours!" In a democracy, the power does not rest in the hands of politicians. It is actively wielded in the hands of the electorate.

It is your responsibility to judge your representatives and to fire those who are not serving your needs, those who are dishonest, unreliable or are failing to deliver. When you vote in a democratic election, you become the CEO of South Africa, deciding who to promote and who to fire. You look at performance, not promises, and judge the character of those at the top.

On Election Day, the power to restructure South Africa's leadership is in your hands. Your vote counts. Your vote can change our country.

The IFP believes that when you vote, you own and shape your own future. We were at the forefront of the liberation struggle that won the right to vote. We made tremendous sacrifices in the fight against apartheid, and we paid a high price for refusing to toe the line and engage an armed struggle. The IFP retained the high moral ground, believing that bloodshed and the loss of lives could not be justified in a struggle that would eventually be won through negotiations, negotiations and negotiations. That is the route we advocated, and it is the route South Africa ultimately took to reach democracy.

The IFP fought hard for South Africa at the negotiating table. As parties vied to shape our future constitutional democracy, the IFP insisted on a federal model that would allow power to be decentralised to the lowest level of government. In other words, we fought for a democracy that would work from the ground up, instead of a government imposed from the top, down.

The National Party didn't see the need for this, and the now ruling party vehemently opposed the idea of power being decentralised. They wanted all the power, at the top, in the hands of the few, so that they could govern South Africa unchallenged by anyone; even by the people themselves.

But, thanks to God, the IFP's dogged fight for federalism won provinces for South Africa and a place in the Constitution for provincial power to develop policy and craft laws. Effectively, the IFP opened the way for people to decide what suits them best, where they are. We paved the way for healthy competition between provinces, to raise the bar on service excellence. We paved the way for relevant policy, timely solutions and practical governance.

This is what enabled the IFP to deliver one of our democracy's greatest success stories; a victory in the fight against HIV/Aids. When the IFP administered KwaZulu Natal, through your electoral mandate, we took our constitutional obligations seriously. We believe that our people's right to life is inalienable, placing on Government the direct responsibility for arresting the spread of HIV/Aids and preventing the decimation of lives.

We therefore launched the roll-out of anti-retrovirals in clinics and hospitals across this Province, administering Nevirapine to mothers and new-born babies to ensure that mother-to-child HIV infection could be stopped. This was not being done anywhere else in the country, despite the fact that it would saves hundreds of thousands of lives.

Based on our success, the IFP was able to join the Treatment Action Campaign in the Constitutional Court in a bid to force national Government to follow suit and save lives throughout South Africa. The ANC-led Government claimed before the Constitutional Court that it could not be done; it was too expensive and too difficult. But the IFP, through Premier LPHM Mtshali, showed the Court how the IFP was doing it across the Province. If we could do it, they could do it. It was simply a matter of political will. The Constitutional Court agreed, and forced Government to do what the Constitution requires of it.

Today, South Africa's success in the fight against HIV/Aids is lauded as one of the greatest achievements in our twenty year democracy. But it is an IFP success story, as many of our country's success stories are. There is no doubt that South Africa needs the moral leadership of the IFP, and we are here to give it, with your support, on your mandate.

The IFP offers something unique: a proven track record of clean governance and strong opposition. We are a constructive opposition that does more than just complain and point out the myriad problems in our country. We offer solutions, driven by a partnership between the IFP and you, the people we serve. Within that partnership, the IFP understands that the power is yours. We listen to your concerns, we ask for your guidance and we genuinely care. But most importantly, the IFP acts to fix the problem.

Too many political leaders misunderstand their role. They are into pocket politics, where positions simply mean money and tenders and swag. I am appalled at how far the ruling party has fallen from the vision of the founding fathers of our liberation movement. Men like my uncle, Dr Pixley ka Isaka Seme, who founded the South African National Native Congress in 1912, set aside their own ambitions for the sake of serving the needs of our country.

Today, many in the ruling party are just dodging corruption charges and lining their own pockets. This is no longer the party of Inkosi Albert Luthuli and Mr Walter Sisulu. It is not the party of Nelson Mandela. It has changed. And it is no longer worthy of leading.

These people may still be at the helm. But they are not leaders.

Leaders don't allow the police to fire on striking mineworkers. Leaders don't promise half a million jobs, then lose a million instead. They don't give tenders to their cousins. They don't build RDP houses that fall down within a year. They don't accuse you of stealing from the State if you draw a social grant, but don't vote the way they want you to. Leaders don't bribe you to vote for them. They don't tell you you'll get into heaven if you give them your vote.

No; real leaders work for your support. They earn your trust and keep serving you, even after elections. We struggled for generations to secure the right to choose our own leaders. Now that we have that right, we must use it to choose leaders worthy of our support.

There is a campaign, headed by the former Minister of Intelligence and the former Deputy Minister of Health. These stalwarts of the ruling party have recognised that something has fundamentally changed in the ruling party. Something has gone rotten. They are asking South Africans to withhold their vote for the ruling party, as a protest against the depth of corruption that has infected it at every level.

But they are making one mistake. They are asking people to go to the polls and spoil their ballot. They are effectively saying, "Don't vote". That is a grossly irresponsible message. We would be shooting ourselves in the foot if we didn't give South Africa a better alternative. We must vote. We have the right to vote, hard-won, through a struggle that cost many lives. It is an insult to the sacrifice of leaders like Bishop Alphaeus Zulu, Mr Walter Sisulu, Inkosi Albert Luthuli, Mr Nelson Mandela, Mr Oliver Tambo, Dr Zami Conco, Rev Celani Mtetwa, Prince Gideon Zulu, Mr Rowley Arenstein, Mr Winnington Sabela and others if we fail to choose our leaders through the ballot box.

Yes, there is corruption in government. Of some 200 municipalities in South Africa, only 9 have received the stamp of approval from the Auditor General for well-managed finances. Why are the finances in almost every single municipality in our country in such a parlous state? And how could R24,8 billion be squandered by provincial departments through unauthorised, irregular, wasteful and fruitless expenditure?

Undoubtedly, we need to fire some people from government. But a spoilt ballot won't do that. More importantly, a spoilt ballot won't put in place the right people for the job. It won't change anything. It is just a lost vote. I want you to understand this, because unless you get to the polling station on Wednesday and vote for the IFP, nothing is going to change in South Africa.

We have seen the consequences of being voteless people before. Do we really voluntarily want to become voteless people again?

Our vote is our most valuable tool with which to forge change. Consider what happens between elections, when the ruling party is not forced to listen to your voice. In this last term of office, South Africa saw the passing of the Secrecy Bill, a piece of legislation that sought to prevent us from knowing exactly what our Government is hiding from us, because it effectively gagged the media.

Most of the scandals and misdeeds of Government have been uncovered by journalists and exposed on the front page of our newspapers. Government thus sought to legislate against the media writing anything about matters of national security, giving Government the discretion to say what constitutes a matter of national security.

The so-called security upgrades at the President's private residence would no doubt be classified as a matter of national security, which means that, had the Secrecy Bill been in place, we would never have found out about Nkandla. The Bill threatened to imprison anyone who disclosed the so-called "secrets" of Government.

The IFP fought the Secrecy Bill tooth and nail. Although every stakeholder, from civil society, to churches, to traditional leaders, unanimously rejected the Bill, the ruling Party ignored us all and forged ahead. It was the IFP that began a campaign of filibustering, effectively slowing down the passing of the Bill by every means possible, to allow the growing tide of discontent from South Africans to reach a crescendo that Government could not feasibly ignore.

The IFP doesn't fight dirty. We fight smart and we fight hard. Often it is because we fight on the side of right that we see victory. This happened when the ruling Party's cosiness with China twice led them to deny entry to our country to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After the death of Mother Theresa of Calcutta, the Dalai Lama is universally regarded as one of the holiest men alive. He has received honorary citizenship from Canada and the United States of America, and the Freedom of the City in many western metropolises. Today, the Dalai Lama is a welcome visitor in all countries of the world, except in China and South Africa.

The Dalai Lama is a Nobel Peace Laureate and holds no political office or function. He is, in effect, as much a private citizen as our former President Nelson Mandela. His message is one of peace, forgiveness, non-violence, reconciliation and spiritual upliftment. Yet Government broke its own laws to prevent him from entering South Africa. Why?

The IFP challenged them on this and we took the matter all the way to the Supreme Court of Appeals, where the court judged in favour of the IFP. We won a moral victory. But the question remains why Government would do something so opposite to the will of the South African people, the values of our Constitution and all that is good, noble and decent in public affairs. Has our Government really lost the moral compass? Is it a government without principles?

I raised this question in the National Assembly during the 2012 debate on the State of the Nation, and my speech was hailed in the media as "what South Africa needs to hear". I have always spoken truth to power, fearlessly and with no regard for my own interests. I say the things that need to be said, because I am a servant of the people.

I am telling you about things the IFP has done in the past five years, because this election is not about the last twenty years of democracy. It is about the last five years, since you voted in 2009. The fact that Government built a house somewhere, for someone, fifteen years ago, is not relevant to the 2014 elections. Don't be fooled into believing that it is. What matters is what your representatives have done with the mandate you gave them in 2009. Have they served your needs? Have they been reliable? Have they told the truth?

One of the IFP's greatest victories in the last five years is winning the right of your MPs to table legislation in Parliament, for Parliament to consider. In terms of the Constitution, Members of Parliament have this right. But, for almost twenty years, the Rules of Parliament contradicted the Constitution, allowing only Ministers to introduce draft legislation. If your MP felt that a law needed to be fixed, or a new law put in place, they would have to table a proposal in a small Committee made up predominantly of members of the ruling Party. This Committee became known as the graveyard of legislation, for nothing good proposed by an opposition MP ever saw the light of day.

The IFP did most of the things through its MP, the Hon Dr Mario Oriani-Ambrosini. No wonder that the â˜Sunday Times Newspaper' described Dr Mario Oriani- Ambrosini as the best Parliamentarian in the last five years of our Fourth Parliament. The Hon. Dr Mario Oriani-Ambrosini, had the courage to challenge the constitutionality of the Rules of Parliament and took the Speaker of the National Assembly all the way to the Constitutional Court. In a two year legal battle, Dr Ambrosini didn't back down. On a matter of principle, on your behalf, he kept fighting and, in the end, he won. He won the right for your MPs to represent your cause, and he opened the space to force Parliament to consider any legislation you petition your MP to bring.

The very first piece of proposed legislation that was tabled in Parliament based on this victory, was an amendment to the National Credit Act, to ensure that anyone under debt review would not accumulate enormous interest charges while they tried to pay off the debt they already owe. It was a lifeline to those struggling to get back on their feet, and a blow to unscrupulous financial institutions. Government was so embarrassed that they didn't think of this themselves and that an IFP MP was showing up their lack of care for struggling South Africans, that they quickly added this proposal to their own draft legislation.

This victory in the Constitutional Court has been a victory for democracy, the fruits of which will ripen continuously in the years ahead. Much of what the IFP does is done with a long-term vision for securing our country's prosperity, stability and growth in the future. We don't go in for stop-gap temporary measures that cost more than South Africa is able to pay. And that is exactly why we are bringing the same fight we brought against HIV/Aids, to the fight of 2014; the fight against the giant of Cancer.

Cancer is reaching pandemic proportions and is set to increase dramatically in the next few years. Countless South Africans are suffering with this disease in one form or another, and in almost all cases the medical industry follows the same expensive, painful, debilitating and often unsuccessful protocol.

If we keep fighting Cancer with chemotherapy and radiation alone, the proposed National Health Insurance system will very quickly collapse. We need to find alternative ways to treat and prevent Cancer, and there are many alternatives already being used, cost-effectively and with great success, in other countries. South Africa has the unique potential of becoming a centre of research into alternative Cancer treatment, which would bring us enormous revenue in medical tourism, while offering hope and extended life expectancy to the many who are suffering with this disease.

Dr Ambrosini has led us in slaying so many monsters in the last two decades, and is again battling in an effort to ensure that the monster of Cancer is conquered. And we pay tribute to Dr Ambrosini, who has sent us his message of good wishes since all of us are aware is ailing. All I can say is that I thank God that I met such a wonderful child of God in my life. The IFP cannot find the words to thank him for all the things he has done for us and all the things he has done with us,

The IFP has called on Government to heed the cry of our nation, and to heal our people.

Our country is broken. The social compact between the ruling party and the citizenry is damaged. Our faith in South Africa's leadership has been lost, and the time has come to take matters into our own hands.

The IFP's election manifesto sets out a vision of what we want to achieve in South Africa. We want to see a country in which everyone is free to fulfil their potential, able to give their contribution, and is respected.

We want to see every child, regardless of where they live, receiving a quality education in a school that is well-equipped with textbooks, desks, libraries and laboratories. We want to see every family living in a safe and decent house, with a flushing toilet linked to a sewerage system. We want to see those who are willing to work, able to find work; work that is satisfying and provides an income.

The IFP wants to see the justice system overhauled, from police, to courts, to prisons, to ensure that crime never pays. We want to see properly trained police officers, who have the respect of the communties they serve. We want to restore the rule of law. We want justice.

The IFP wants to get traditional leaders the support they deserve to administer good governance in their communities. We don't pay lip service to the institution of traditional leadership, pretending to care about culture and heritage. We know that our culture makes us who we are, and we are determined to preserve a social structure that sees governance achieved through collective wisdom and consensus; for that is democracy.

The IFP wants to grow South Africa's economy, to ensure that our country can afford the vast social security network it provides to its people, but also to ensure that we become a developmental state, rather than remaining a welfare state. Only a stronger economy will support employment generation and allow us to build the kind of infrastucture South Africa needs.

The IFP wants to see every South African able to afford and access quality healthcare, whenever you need it. We want hospitals that are well managed and clinics that are propery resourced. No one should have to wait for treatment for a serious illness, and women should give birth in safe, clean environments, attended by medical professionals.

The IFP's vision for South Africa is captured in our election manifesto. But we have gone one step further, and made a commitment to you about what a vote for the IFP means. Our manifesto contains practical actions that the IFP is undertaking to achieve our vision. We know that actions speak louder than words.

I therefore invite you to consider our track record. Look at what the IFP has achieved over almost forty years of governance at every level. Consider our contribution to the Government of National Unity, our leadership in laying a good foundation in KwaZulu Natal, our consistent voice of reason and our constant call for moral integrity. Consider too that in 19 years of governing KwaZulu before 1994, never once was a single allegation of corruption ever levelled against my administration. The IFP is a leadership you can trust. We are a leadership of integrity.

Consider our governance in a democratic South Africa. We focussed not only on economic development, to increase job creation across the board, but on getting the basics working, like electricity, sanitation and housing. We built clinics and opened training colleges. For every municipality that we administered, there is a string of success stories and victories.

Our success, in part, was due to the fact that we already had experience in governance and knew what could and couldn't work. But it was also because we were building on a foundation of good governance that we had laid as Inkatha over 19 years when we administered the erstwhile KwaZulu Government.

Under our leadership, more than 6000 schools were built in KwaZulu. We gave entrepreneurs access to seed capital. We sent young women to the Coady Institute at St Francis Xavier University in Canada, to learn about cooperatives and mobilising community savings. We ensured that clinics had enough medicine and well-trained doctors. We held officials and public representatives to a very high standard. And we did all of this without access to the vast resources of the State.

If we can do so much with so little, imagine what the IFP can do with your support in the seat of Government. Your mandate to the IFP in the past election was to hold Government to account, to be a formidable opposition and a watchdog over those who hold the purse-strings. We have done that, and we've done it well.

Let me be frank. This is not a role that the NFP can play. Shortly after they were formed in 2011, the NFP went into coalition with the ruling Party in 19 municipalities across KwaZulu Natal. Because of this, they are hamstrung to hold their coalition partner accountable or call them to task when things go wrong. They cannot offer an effective opposition, because they're more concerned about pleasing the ruling party than pleasing the people they are meant to serve.

In fact the NFP is looking more and more like their big brother, the ANC, every day. There are now reports in the media about alleged corruption in the Zululand Municipality where the NFP leader is Mayor. Municipal funds have allegedly been channelled into the NFP's election campaign, which means that money which the National Treasury gave to the Municipality to deliver services, has allegedly been used to put up NFP posters and to wine and dine journalists for favourable reports on the NFP.

If it's true, it is theft, pure and simple. The Municipal Manager has denied the allegations. But none other than the former National Commissioner of Police, Mr Bheki Cele, led a demonstration of the ANC Youth League in Ulundi against this alleged corruption by Mrs kaMagwaza-Msibi. Why would someone of Mr Cele's stature, a member of the NEC of the ANC, do something like that with no rhyme or reason? He did this in spite of the fact that the ANC and NFP are in coalition in governing 19 municipalities in KwaZulu Natal.

The IFP has approached the Public Protector to investigate allegations that millions of Rands allocated for providing water are missing from the Municipality. It is alleged that wherever the money is going, it is not going into service delivery. The last report of the Auditor General highlighted 19 million Rands' worth of irregular expenditure. Where is your money going?

This election campaign has exposed more fraud, vote buying and abuse of State resources than any election before. Whenever the ruling party comes to a community with food parcels or blankets bought with State resources, I say "eat the food, use the blankets, because they were bought with your money". You paid for them. But know that the people who decided to use your money to try to buy your allegiance do not deserve your vote. How dare they treat you like children?

If they want your vote, they must deliver. Your vote is not for sale.

The IFP is doing everything possible to ensure a free and fair election next Wednesday. We launched a petition, which was signed by leaders of almost all opposition parties, urging the IEC not to appoint members of SADTU as Electoral Officials. SADTU is openly aligned to the ruling party and campaigns on their behalf. They are not independent observers. They have clear incentive to influence the outcome of elections to benefit the ruling party.

Indeed, it was a member of SADTU who failed to ensure that ballot papers were stamped, in accordance with the prescribed procedure, in last year's by-election in Nongoma, which saw the IFP lose the election. When we discovered the unstamped ballot papers, we lodged an objection with the IEC, which the IEC upheld. Yet instead of acting immediately to set the matter right, the IEC sent it to the Electoral Court, which meant that it took half a year to be resolved.

The IFP was finally vindicated this week, when the Electoral Court ordered the IEC to amend the results of the by-election to reflect the true outcome. The true result was an IFP victory. We won Nongoma. So this nonsense that our rivals are growing and claiming ground from the IFP has no basis in reality. The only way they win, is through trickery.

We have now launched legal action to prevent the IEC from appointing SADTU members as Electoral Officers. These elections must be free and fair.

It is time to close the door on corruption and weak leadership. It is time to set our country back on the right path, so that in twenty years' time we will be closer to freedom, prosperity, equality and hope. On the 7th of May the power will be placed in your hands to create a better future for South Africa. Make it a vote for integrity and honest leadership. Make it a vote for the IFP.

South Africa, change is coming and it's coming through the ballot box. The revolution of goodwill has begun.

So vote IFP. The Power is Yours!

Issued by the IFP, May 4 2014

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