Comrades and friends,
 
Today all of us meet on sacred ground, the same platform where multitudes of South Africans, from all walks of life, congregated in 1955. They met here to craft a blueprint for a South Africa that will bring justice, dignity, and equality to all its people.

This is sacred ground that consolidated decades-old of brave resistance to white minority rule into a more structured and theoretically sound Movement. This is the hallowed ground where the organizational and social basis of the Congress Movement developed into concrete political and socio-economic principles.

This is the place where the non-racial and non-sexist values permanently became etched into the soul of the Congress Movement. This is the home that gave us a shared vision for the future.

This is an important place that helped us to articulate an alternative and radically different social order. This place helped us to clearly and unambiguously define the correct sectoral demands of our people. Accordingly, we had to address the needs and the demands of the youth, students, women, workers, peasants, as well as the urban and rural people and indeed black and white South Africans. This place gave us ideological uniformity and cohesion. It gave concrete details and substance to the clarion call “Freedom in our Lifetime”.

By 1994 it was not only “Freedom in our Lifetime”, it had extended and codified into “A better life for all”.

We are here today at the same sacred spot that defines who we are, what we represent and what we stand for. These are the moments that mark our life and compel us to surrender ourselves to the causes that we carry always from the heart.

In the life of each one of us, there are crucial moments. They arrive without invitation, often without warning… and nothing is more important than being alert and prepared to receive them with all of one’s abilities.

IN MY LIFE, THIS IS ONE OF THOSE MOMENTS, AND I AM HERE TO RECEIVE IT WITH OPEN ARMS… WITH ALL AWARENESS AND HUMILITY … AND COMPLETELY PREPARED TO DEVOTE BODY AND SOUL TO THIS CAUSE.
 
NO NATION CAN SURVIVE WITHOUT HONORING BOTH THE RIGHTS THAT DIGNIFY IT … AND THE OBLIGATIONS THAT SUPPORT IT. WE ARE OBLIGED TO RETURN TO THAT CAUSE.
 
WE ARE OBLIGED TO RETURN TO THE VALUES ​​OF THE FREEDOM CHARTER … our guiding principles as resonant today, as on the day that they were written, and to put those values at the service of the people in their daily lives first and foremost, as opposed to the self.
 
WE HAVE A CHOICE TO RETURN TO OUR ROOTS AS A PARTY WITH ALL ITS MONUMENTAL CAPITAL VALUE… OR WE PUT AT RISK THE VERY FUTURE OF OUR NATION, OUR PEOPLE, AND GENERATIONS TO COME.

If we do not give back to the ANC its moral credit, the socio-political structure of the country is going to be weakened like never before in the last decades.
 
WHAT DO WE WANT TO BE RESPONSIBLE FOR? FOR SALVATION, OR FALL?  YOU WILL DECIDE!

For my part, I have already made my decision, and it is irrevocable…

I AM GOING TO WORK SO THAT THE SACRED FOUNDATIONS OF THE NEW SOUTH AFRICA WILL NEVER BE CRUSHED BY PERSONAL AMBITIONS… BY CORRUPTION… BY MEANNESS… OR BY ARRANGEMENTS MADE BEHIND THE BACKS OF THE PEOPLE, FOR NEFARIOUS AND TREACHEROUS PURPOSES.

The alarm bells have sounded. They are too loud to ignore. We have heard them… We heard them when people from all communities took to the streets to defend the principles of unity and reconciliation that founded this democracy… We heard them screeching from newspaper headlines... We heard them when our people spoke with their votes last year… Those bells sounded as a clear warning of the fact that we must not be so arrogant that we forget who we are, or who put us here.
 
THE ANC WAS NOT BORN TO SATISFY A HANDFUL OF SELFISH PEOPLE, NOR DID OUR FOUNDING FATHERS BEQUEATH US A FREEDOM CHARTER TO SQUANDER. WE ARE OBLIGED TO TRANSLATE THE FREEDOM CHARTER AND GIVE IT CONCRETE VALUE, USING THEM AS A CENTRAL GUIDE, SO THAT EVERY SOUTH AFRICAN CAN FEEL AND TOUCH AND LIVE BY IT EVERY DAY.

SACRED WORDS ARE EVEN MORE SACRED WHEN THEY ARE ACTED UPON AND LIVED… bringing fulfillment to people… so that we may meet the promise of 1994 to deliver a better life for all, a life of meaning and quality.
 
WE HAVE THE RIGHT TO HAPPINESS AND WELL-BEING, BUT FOR THAT WE ALSO HAVE THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PRESERVE IT AND TO MAKE IT TRUE IN THE DAILY LIVES OF OUR PEOPLE. 
 
TODAY OUR OBLIGATION IS TO RECOVER THE HONOUR OF OUR PARTY, AND TO BUILD THE GLORY OF OUR COUNTRY. AND MAY THAT GLORY REACH ALL SOUTH AFRICANS… THE DAILY LIFE OF EACH OF US… EMPOWERING OUR LIVES, LIFTING OUR HOPES AND FULFILLING OUR DREAMS.
 
WE AS A PEOPLE, HAVE GONE THROUGH A GREAT DEAL OF PAIN AND SACRIFICE, TRAVERSED LANDS OUR FOREFATHERS NEVER DREAMED OF, BURIED OUR YOUNG, WE REFUSED TO ALLOW OUR HEARTS, BROKEN SO MANY TIMES, TO BE FILLED WITH HATRED. WE CHOSE LION HEARTS …PROUD, STRONG, RESILIENT PEOPLE THAT WE ARE. WE CHOSE TO FILL OUR HEARTS WITH HOPE, SETTING AN EXAMPLE FOR ALL OF THE PEOPLE OF THE WORLD TO FOLLOW.

We are directed by four sacred concepts:

HONOR ... INTEGRITY ...  COURAGE, TO DO THE RIGHT THING AT ALL TIMES ... THE HEART THAT CARES ... AND THE HOPE THAT WE NEED TO INSPIRE IN OUR PEOPLE THAT THEIR LIVES WILL INDEED BE BETTER.

THESE ARE CONCEPTS THAT WE SHOULD REVERE IN OUR HEARTS FOREVER. THEY HAVE CARRIED US THROUGH THE DARKEST HOURS. LET THEM CARRY US NOW SO THAT WE EMERGE VICTORIOUS. WE MUST SEIZE THEM NOW TOGETHER…WITH THEM WE WILL HAVE TO FACE THE TERRIBLE ENEMIES THAT TODAY ARE THREATENING TO DEFEAT US...
 
THESE ARE: CORRUPTION WITHOUT LIMITS ... ARROGANCE .... LOSS OF THE SENSE OF REALITY ... IMPUNITY ... GREED AND SELFISHNESS  ... AND A TOTAL LOSS OF THE VALUE SYSTEM AS ENSHRINED IN THE FREEDOM CHARTER.

I BELIEVE THE TIME HAS COME TO STAND TOGETHER... SHOULDER TO SHOULDER ... TO DEFEAT ALL THAT THREATEN TO END YOUR DIGNITY, OUR HARD WON FREEDOM AND ACHIEVEMENTS, THE EFFECT OF IMPOVERISHING AND STUNTING OUR QUALITY OF LIFE ... AND THREATEN THE FUTURE WE PROMISED OUR CHILDREN... 
 
LET THE TORCH OF THE REVOLUTION BE REIGNITED IN OUR HEARTS. Let us allow no one, no one to extinguish it, because this is all we have right now. 

I learned from Charlotte Maxeke, Lilian Ngoyi, Ruth First, Ruth Mompati, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela. Great women and steadfast revolutionaries who stood strong in the face of oppression. These mighty role models cradled our families and defended our homesteads, armed only with their conviction, their integrity, their infallible commitment to justice, and their dreams of liberation.
 
I learned it from then young people… heroic revolutionaries like Solomon Mahlangu, Hastings Ndlovu and Hector Pieterson. For our revolution they gave their youth… their strength… their life.  A sacrifice that you must honour.  You must honour it… with your words and with your actions, every moment, in all aspects of your life.  WE CANNOT… WE WILL NOT LET THEIR FIRE CEASE TO BURN.   

TODAY, I CAN SAY WITH CONFIDENCE: I AM READY TO FIGHT SO THAT WE CAN RECLAIM THOSE VALUES THAT ONCE WERE OURS.
 
I WOULD LIKE TO URGE YOU TO STAND WITH ME TO REGAIN THE HONOUR OF BEING A REVOLUTIONARY. I WOULD LIKE YOU TO STAND WITH ME SO THAT WE CAN EARN SOMETHING MORE VALUABLE THAN MONEY: INTEGRITY, HONOUR, COURAGE AND RESPECT. I WOULD LIKE YOU TO STAND WITH ME, BECAUSE WE HAVE SO SAVE THE ANC. SAVING THE ANC IS TO SAVE SOUTH AFRICA, AND THE LIFE AND DESTINY OF YOURSELF, YOUR FAMILIES, YOUR CHILDREN AND YOUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN.
 
I would like you to stand with me to offer you hope and not condemnation. The heritage of the South Africa we chose to believe in, demands that our diversity be acknowledged as our strength.

This attribute we will not allow to be turned against us by divisiveness…  We will welcome those who wish to come late to our struggle…  We will always welcome them, because we refuse to be torn apart by those who would encourage hatred, as a smokescreen to hide their embrace of injustice.

And we will have to overcome, because the strength of those champions whose bodies were taken from us… Pieterson, Mahlangu, Mashinini, and countless others…

The hearts of our mothers, Charlotte Maxeke, Lilian Ngoyi, Ruth First, Ruth Mompati … and the values of our revolutionary fathers, the great Luthuli, Madiba and Oliver Tambo still live in us.  
 
THE SOUTH AFRICA I ENVISION, IS THE SAME THEY DREAMED OF.

The country of freedom, equality, fairness and prosperity for all expressed by the Freedom Charter.

A country that has…

• Food for the hungry.

• Land for the landless and the dispossessed.

• Homes for the homeless.

• Health for the sick.

• Care for the elderly.

• Care for those who sacrificed their lives for us to be here.

• Work for the millions unemployed.

• Incentives for entrepreneurs so that we all grow the economy.

• Equal Access to the resources of the country as we build our nation.

• Progressive realisation of free education for all.

• Decent services and a clean government from public servants who know they serve the interests of the people first.

• Equality for women.

• Inclusion for the poor and the Black majority, for, the wealth of this country belongs to all.

• Inclusion for the vulnerable; women, children and those who live with disabilities.

• Justice and equality for all and Protection against violence and abuse.

• Inclusion for minorities and assurance they belong.

• Respect for each and all South Africans equally.

THIS IS THE SOUTH AFRICA YOU WANT.

And it is the South Africa we can have, BUT ONLY if we return to the right path…. to the path of what we MUST do!

What we MUST do to honour our forefathers, and carry on with their dream of ridding South Africa of poverty, corruption, violence, unemployment, inequality, racism and any capture of whatever nature that is detrimental to our country and our economy.

What we MUST do to finally liberate this country and its people.         

What we MUST do to cleanse the ANC and recover its original values.

There are challenges worth facing, and this is one of them.

These are challenges worth facing, because our nation is going through one of its most difficult moments and our people are wondering why we are dithering.

IT IS WORTH IT because it is a cause that provides a sense of purpose and meaning to all of our lives.

IT IS WORTH IT because South Africa and South Africans deserve it.

IT IS WORTH IT because History is calling us.

To place the people and their wellbeing at the centre of such transcendental heritage… IT´S A MUST!

It is not a decision taken for personal interests, but for the ANC and the whole nation’s sake… IT´S A MUST!

FOR ME, LINDIWE SISULU, IT IS A DEEP PERSONAL COMMITMENT TO PUT THE COMMON SOUTH AFRICAN MAN OR WOMAN – AND THEIR WELLBEING – AT THE CENTRE OF LUTHULI’S, MANDELA’S AND TAMBO’S LEGACY… IT IS SIMPLY A MUST!

SOUTH AFRICA URGENTLY NEEDS an economic resurgence… A moral revolution… A return to the future. It also URGENTLY NEEDS A RADICAL SOCIAL TRANSFORMATION.

…AND SO DOES THE ANC!

Our party can not only be an ‘electoral machine’... It has to become a machine yes… but a machine of prosperity, justice and happiness, so that all South Africans can live better lives.

WE DON’T WANT ANYONE TO ‘USE’ THE PARTY… Whoever does it, harms all of us.

We can no longer allow our party to be harmed, then it is a certainty that we will pay the consequences… All of us who are a part of it now, and also, all future South Africans.

We need to ensure that our party is greater than any faction, greater than anything that money can buy. There’s no need to rebuild it, or re-start history over again. What we ought to do is go back to history… to the history that carried us here… The history that made us who we are, and who we can be.

SOUTH AFRICA AND THE ANC NEED A REVISED MOVEMENT, open to modern means and methods.

A movement to save the Republic, reunite us, save South Africans ... and save people’s HOPE for a dignified life, AND A FUTURE OF CERTAINTIES.

A movement where no one is left out… no one is alienated… and no one feels like an outsider.

SOUTH AFRICA AND THE ANC NEED A LEADER… IT NEEDS LEADERS.

We need leaders who will guide the party and the country to the future of certainties its people demand and deserve. Leaders capable of inspiring the men and women of all ages and beliefs of this country, by rebuilding and strenghtening in each of them, a realistic hope for the future… and a better future for themselves and their children. Let people judge us by our collective character.

I, Lindiwe Sisulu, want for all South Africans, the best that life owes them. I want fora ll of them to want to give their best for this country.

It is not too much to ask for… It is what South Africans DESERVE.

IT’S A MUST!

• WE MUST stop the killings in KwaZulu-Natal that is alien to the ANC, that is not the culture of our movement.
• WE MUST stop violence against women and children.
• WE MUST stop corruption.
• WE MUST unshackle ourselves from the stronghold of undemocratic processes in the ANC.
• The ANC is not for sale. Don’t buy votes. Don’t buy voters.

“You have to carefully choose the opportunity and make sure that history would be on your side.”

Nelson Mandela  - April 1993