CELEBRATION OF FREEDOM DAY 2012 ADDRESS BY PRINCE MANGOSUTHU BUTHELEZI MP PRESIDENT OF THE INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY, Settlers' Park Stadium, Ladysmith, April 27 2012

We remember the 27th of April 1994. We remember the sense of jubilation with which we went to the polls. We remember the long lines and the long wait, neither of which seemed to matter, because we had waited more than a hundred years for this moment and it had finally come. For the first time, the instruction on a South African ballot paper to "Make your mark next to the party you choose" was printed in eleven languages, instead of two. We were all allowed to vote. We were all represented.

I remember more than two million South Africans casting their vote for the IFP; two million people asking for a leadership that had never strayed from the founding principles of our liberation struggle, to lead us now in a brave new world. Because of their votes, the IFP secured 43 seats in the National Assembly and I was appointed the first Minister of Home Affairs in a democratic Government. One of the peripheral duties of my position was to declare public holidays. Now, every year, on the 27th of April, South Africa pauses to celebrate its freedom.

Today, crowds will gather at the Union Buildings in Pretoria for the national celebration of Freedom Day. Like last year, there will probably be people waving flags of the ANC. Like last year, there will probably be a sea of ANC T-shirts. And, like last year, speakers from other parties will be given a minute or two to represent the millions of South Africans who are not card-carrying members of the ANC, before President Zuma takes the podium to deliver a lengthy televised speech. I only hope that, unlike last year, the President will not stand by while opposition speakers are heckled and booed.

I am not at the Union Buildings. I understand the need to foster national unity, which compelled the Minister of Arts and Culture to invite all opposition leaders to attend the national Freedom Day celebration. But I also understand that a genuine commitment to national unity needs to come from all sides. National unity is predicated on reconciliation. Is there any point in the IFP continually extending the olive branch, continually calling the ANC back to work on reconciliation, when the ANC gives one indication after the next that reconciliation has fallen from its agenda?

Recently a statue of Dr Pixley ka Isaka Seme was unveiled in Mpumalanga as part of the ANC's centennial project. Not one of the dignitaries who attended that event had ever met Dr Seme. I, his nephew, remember conversations I had with him and how I assisted him to write his letters. But I was not invited. Aside from the statue, there is a habit that has existed for quite some time of not giving Dr Seme his rightful place as the founder of the South African National Native Congress, which was later called the African National Congress.

In Parliament I distributed copies of an article written for "The Drum" magazine in 1953 by Mr RV Selope-Tema, the former editor of "The World" newspaper, in which he explained how Dr Seme became the founder of the African National Congress. Dr Dube was elected the first President because Dr Seme deferred to him. They were even related. I do hope that my affiliation with Dr Seme has not tainted him in the eyes of some people.

Last month, President Jacob Zuma, the Premier of KwaZulu Natal, the Minister of Transport and other ANC heavyweights descended on Esikhawini in Empangeni to unveil a Heroes' Arch, commemorating those who were killed in political violence on the North Coast. The IFP was not invited.

It is beyond dispute that the low intensity civil war was between members of the UDF/ANC axis, and members of the IFP and other black political organizations. In October 1999, the then President of the ANC, Mr Thabo Mbeki, attended a function with me, as leader of the IFP, in Thokoza in Gauteng. Thokoza had been one of the tragic theatres of the People's War. Originally, the plan had been for the people of Thokoza, both ANC and IFP, to invite President Mandela, in his capacity as the leader of the ANC, and me, as the leader of the IFP, as an act of reconciliation.

Nevertheless, Mr Mbeki and I unveiled a memorial inscribed with the names of all the victims of violence from both the ANC and IFP. We then both addressed a joint rally of members of the ANC and the IFP. It was supposed to be the first of many joint rallies to implement the agenda of reconciliation. But, sadly, it was the first and last joint rally.

Now the ANC unveils a Heroes' Arch in the absence of the IFP, as though all the victims of political violence were ANC members. What about our people? What about our wounded, our murdered, our victims? How can the President of this country lend authority to the lie that none of the heroes of our struggle were IFP?

This evening, on Freedom Day, the President will bestow National Orders on people who have made extraordinary contributions to our country and the world. These awards are the highest accolade the President bestows. In the past, they have been given to people like Busi Mhlongo for her contribution to showcasing South African music in the international arena, and Thokozani Nene, for enriching the isiZulu language and culture.

But this year, President Zuma will give the Order of the Baobab, Gold, to Frank Dutton and Lwandle Magadla. In a statement released by the Presidency, these two South Africans are being honoured for exposing "Third Force" activities and collusion between the Inkatha Freedom Party and the apartheid security forces.

The ANC has given clear indication that reconciliation with the IFP is not on its agenda. Instead, it is stepping up its campaign against us.

So, no, I am not at the Union Buildings today. I am here, remembering the heroes and heroines of the IFP who laid down their lives for the freedom South Africa celebrates. This year, we choose to remember the contribution the IFP made to ending Apartheid. We remember the contribution of the IFP to negotiating a democratic dispensation. We remember the IFP's firm commitment to non-violence, which saved this country from utter destruction. We remember the IFP building houses and clinics in KwaZulu, while ANC cadres were being taught how to fire a gun. Are we not allowed to say that? Are we not allowed to remember the past? These were free choices which our different organisations chose of their own volition.

I am disgusted when I hear accusations like those made by Mr Maliyakhe Shelembe that I am stirring the pot of violence. The people of Uthukela know Mr Shelembe better than I do. I need not elaborate on his character. But even when people like him have the temerity to accuse the IFP of promoting violence, it makes me wonder. Can people really have forgotten the IFP's steadfast stand against an armed struggle, the very stand that turned the wrath of the ANC upon us? The IFP stood by non-violence when the ANC abandoned the founding principles of 1912; the very principles for which Inkosi Albert Luthuli was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

The IFP endured the ANC's People's War, standing at every funeral and praying for peace. But now the NFP has the gall to say I am stirring the pot of violence because I refuse to deny that the NFP was birthed by the ANC. Mrs kaMagwaza-Msibi has even threatened, again, to take me to court. I am still waiting for that summons. I supported my case in the National Assembly more than a year ago, when there was ample evidence of collusion with the ANC. I am quite prepared to support my case in court, with all the confirming evidence that has since appeared.

The NFP is desperate to distance itself from the ANC, which is an awkward maneuver within an alliance. It is causing them to say and do some silly things. Earlier this year, Mrs Zanele kaMagwaza-Msibi announced that the IFP and the ANC are the same devil, prompting the MEC for Safety and Security in KwaZulu Natal, the Hon Mr Willies Mchunu, to publically regret the ANC's alliance with the NFP. The NFP does not seem to know where it wants to stand. It is hardly surprising that people are streaming back to the IFP after a taste of the National Freedom Party. We commend them on coming home.

It is difficult to forget that when Mr Vikizitha Mlotshwa, the Provincial leader of the NFP was an IFP mayor, the NFP made all sorts of allegations against him, even saying that he stole bricks that were meant for the construction of a crèche and used them to build his own house. But when Mr Mlotshwa defected to the NFP, they had no qualms about putting him in leadership here in Uthukela and in the Province. It seems the NFP isn't worried about the quality of leadership it gives its voters. It's only worried that you might call them an ANC project.

The IFP is focusing elsewhere. We are focusing on the state of our country eighteen years into democracy. We are looking at the many promises made by the ruling Party on the 27th of April 1994, and wondering what has happened to integrity in leadership. In 1994, more than two million South Africans announced through the ballot box that integrity was vital to the leadership of the new South Africa. They had witnessed the integrity of the IFP in this Province over nineteen years and recognized that, without the IFP, the future would be compromised.

Those two million South Africans made their cross at the bottom of the ballot paper, where the IFP's logo had been added as a sticker beneath the 18 parties contesting South Africa's first democratic elections.

Unlike other parties, the IFP had had only seven days to campaign. On a matter of principle we had walked out of the transitional negotiations when the rightful voice of millions of South Africans was being ignored. Just days before the 27th of April 1994, we agreed to contest the elections, because Mr Nelson Mandela and former State President FW de Klerk had signed with me a Solemn Agreement on the 19th of April 1994 that the outstanding issues would be dealt with through international mediation immediately after the elections.

That Agreement was never honoured. It was one of many ANC promises and good intentions that have failed to bear fruit. But it gave two million South Africans the opportunity to express their support for a liberation organization other than the ANC.

Today if you ask a school child which political parties contested the 1994 elections, I would be surprised if they named more than two. In the eighteen years since that day, every effort has been made to portray the liberation struggle as a bilateral conflict between the African National Congress and the then ruling National Party. This year, in particular, as the ANC celebrates the centenary of its founding, there is an explicit agenda to position the ANC in the national psyche as the sole liberator of South Africa.

Many parties on that first ballot paper have been forgotten or pushed into obscurity. The SOCCER Party, the Women's Rights Peace Party, the Ximoko Progressive Party, the Africa Muslim Party, the African Moderates Congress Party, the Dikwankwetla Party of South Africa and the LUSO South African Party never contested another election. The Democratic Party, which before 1994 had already changed from being the Progressive Party to the Progressive Reform Party to the Progressive Federal Party, has become hard to recognize as the Democratic Alliance.

I fear part of the legacy of Mrs Helen Suzman's party has been lost along the way. Mrs Suzman was a remarkable woman who stood in defiance of her predominantly male colleagues in the National Party's Parliament and spoke up for the disenfranchised. Had she found herself in Premier Helen Zille's Cabinet in the Western Cape several decades later, she would have again been surrounded by men, as though gender equality was never part of what we fought for.

The Democratic Party's election manifesto in 1994 highlighted its excellent track record of exposing corruption and mismanagement in government. Eighteen years later, it feels as though the DA has retained this as its sole mandate.

Now the DA has declared that it wants to take over KwaZulu Natal in 2014. When they put Ms Lindiwe Mazibuko in the position of Parliamentary Leader, many people questioned whether that would be enough to draw the black vote. There was controversy, even within the DA.

Is the IFP afraid of the DA's march on KwaZulu Natal? No. We believe in a strong opposition for a healthy democracy. There is certainly a role for the DA to point out everything the ANC does wrong.

But KwaZulu Natal needs more than that.

The IFP has served this province for almost four decades. We are intimately acquainted with the needs and potential of this place. We have worked on this soil and planted these fields. We have met the indignities of Apartheid and the challenges of inadequate resources. We have brought business here and secured investment. We have pioneered gender equality and empowered women to lead. We have championed entrepreneurs and promoted self-reliance.

We have fought for traditional leadership. We have driven the roll out of anti-retrovirals. We even went to the Constitutional Court to force the National Government to supply Nevarapine when Dr Mtshali was our Premier. This was in order to prevent babies whose mothers were HIV positive from being born infected with HIV. The present Premier and leader of the ANC in this Province, the Hon Dr Mkhize, opposed us in Court on the basis that he, as Minister of Health, had the authority to deal with the issue. The Court dismissed Dr Mkhize's claims and stated that the final authority of the Province resided in the Premier.

The IFP has a legacy and a leadership that KwaZulu Natal needs. We also have a consistency that KwaZulu Natal can trust. We have not changed our stripes according to the political weathercock. The ANC abandoned its founding principles. The NFP went into coalition with the ANC. The DA changes its image according to the demographic. But, when it comes to the IFP, there is no debate over identity. We are who you have always known us to be. Our principles remain uncompromised. Our message remains unchanged. We are a Party which recognizes the fact that we are one Nation, but that recognizes our pluralism.

We celebrate Freedom Day today as an IFP celebration, because we know without fear of contradiction that the IFP made a significant contribution to the liberation of our country. The two million people who voted for the IFP in our first democratic elections bear testimony to this truth. We must remember this contribution and celebrate it unashamedly, so that it will never be forgotten. We have an agenda to commemorate the many IFP heroes of our liberation struggle.

I fear that this generation of IFP supporters is beginning to forget, or has perhaps not been told, what we did in the struggle. The younger generation may not know, for instance, that the IFP's contribution to transitional negotiations secured the creation of provinces. The only reason South Africa has provinces today is because of the IFP's obstinate fight against centralising power. The ANC was vehemently opposed to provinces, believing all power should vest in a centralized Government. They wanted absolute control.

Now the ruling Party is debating whether provinces are necessary in South Africa, as though the idea of allowing people to decide for themselves what is best in their community has somehow become obsolete. Just as we fought to have provinces enshrined in the Constitution, the IFP will fight to stop the ANC from changing the Constitution to get rid of provinces. We are still a thorn in the ruling Party's flesh.

Let me make it clear that plans are still afoot to destroy the IFP.

I am tired of hearing this nonsense that I am clinging to power or that the leadership does not want to move forward. We are moving forward. We have a Roadmap that will guide the IFP to a place of greater strength. Our detractors are attacking the Roadmap from every angle, because they fear its success. A lot of nonsense is being spoken about the Roadmap. This is an internal discussion document and I urge you to discuss it within our structures. It is not for discussion in public meetings where anyone with any agenda can create confusion.

We are committed to holding Conference as soon as possible. But we know that bogus branches are still being created so that bad faith delegates can be sent to Conference with a mandate to disrupt and sabotage elections. Some members of the NFP who defected from the IFP still have IFP membership books. They are using these books to sign up bad faith members, to create bogus branches. Clearly, if we want a successful conference and a credible election, we will need to deal with this problem.

The National Council has considered the options and resolved that all members of the IFP will need to rejoin the Party as of 30 April 2012. New membership cards will be issued, with enhanced security features. This is an extraordinary step by the Party, but it is the best way to ensure that those who come to Conference are legitimate, good faith members of the IFP. It is the only way to ensure a credible election and a viable future.

I am aware that the R10 joining fee will be a hardship for many people, particularly those who have already paid their membership fees for 2012. Nevertheless, I ask you to consider the interests of the Party. We cannot fail to counter every attack and take every precautionary measure for the sake of conference. I therefore ask you to do everything in your power to rejoin and receive the new membership card. You should regard this as a sacrifice, which we are all making, for the sake of ensuring that we will have an orderly and credible elective conference, attended by credible delegates whose credentials will have been properly verified.

The IFP had always been a membership based organization. When I think of the two million South Africans who voted for the IFP in 1994 and the excruciating poverty many of them endured, it becomes clear that a liberated South Africa was built not only on selfless sacrifice but on ideological conviction. People believed in freedom. It was an ideal worth sacrificing for.

Today we honour the many heroes and heroines of the IFP who fought for freedom. They deserve to be remembered. They deserve their place in history. Let us not take for granted the freedom they won for this and successive generations.

This Freedom Day, we salute the IFP.

Issued by the IFP, April 27 2012

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