Date: 20/10/2010
Source: The Inkatha Freedom Party
Title: IFP: Buthelezi: Address by the IFP president, at the signing ceremony and handover of the IFP local government services delivery agreement, Durban

This is a watershed moment in our country. Today, the Mayors, Deputy Mayors,
Councillors and Exco members of the IFP memorialise their commitment to the
people of South Africa. You are signing what amounts to a contract which
imposes on you obligations that must be met. You are giving our people a
document to return to time and again, to measure the strength of the IFP's
success and the quality of our service.

By signing this Service Delivery Agreement you have undertaken to dedicate
yourselves to excellence in local government, and you have agreed to be held
accountable to the people you serve for meeting this high standard. We in
the IFP believe in transparent governance; in clearly setting out our
commitments, and encouraging the people we serve to walk with us and witness
whether we are fulfilling them.

As the President of the IFP, I receive this signed Agreement from our senior
local government deployees with a sense of gravitas. I recognise that the
commitment you have made reflects not only your sincerity in serving our
people, but your understanding that each one of you represents the IFP.
Wherever you go and in whatever you do, you carry the IFP's reputation. You
embody its legacy and vision. The IFP has entrusted to you the invaluable
task of protecting its name.

You have not been granted a senior position to bestow status on you, nor to
ensure a paycheck each month. You have been chosen to personify the IFP's
belief that leadership means service. Our belief in federalism and
governance from the bottom up means that leaders in local government must
listen more than they talk, and always seek the input of their
constituencies. This is not only a commitment to be made at election time,
but one to be upheld continuously.

Willingness to pledge ourselves to service delivery is not a new thing in
the IFP.

Today's Service Delivery Agreement notes the pledge we made in 2006 to give
power to the people. I feel it is important that we remember that pledge and
consider in our hearts whether we have upheld it in every respect. Let us
examine our own consciences and determine how we might take that pledge
further.

This agreement is not entirely different to the one we took before. It does
not replace our previous commitment, or change it in any way. It is a
reaffirmation of a culture of service delivery that has been part of the
IFP's makeup for 35 years. Today, I take the liberty of reading that 2006
commitment, to remind us of the foundation we are building on IFP'S LOCAL
GOVERNMENT PLEDGE OF HONOUR, SERVICE AND DELIVERY

It has always been the cornerstone of IFP philosophy that people should
govern their own lives to the fullest extent possible at the local level and
that they should be empowered to do so effectively. That is why local
government matters and why municipal democracy, municipal functions and
municipal institutions are so important.

Since 1994, voters have become increasingly disillusioned with a governance
system which, while benefiting the politically well-connected, has not done
enough for the majority of the really poor. Add to this increasing
corruption, endemic inefficiency, floor-crossing and some politicians'
insatiable pursuit of self-interest, and it is easy to see why ordinary
people often feel that there is not much point in voting.

Local government elections, however, is the vehicle to change all this.
Voting for trustworthy local candidates who are well-known and respected in
the community and ensuring that they properly represent you in your council,
is crucial to taking power back into your hands.

The IFP is committed to serving your interests by focusing on commitment,
service delivery and participatory local government. We, therefore, present
our pledge of honour, service and delivery:

A Pledge of Honour

- To remain faithful to this pledge

- To implement the promises we make in our manifestos

- Not to cross the floor to any other political party during the floor
crossing period

- To be free of corruption and to prevent corruption

- To ensure open, inclusive and participatory governance

- To serve the community to the best of our ability utilising all the
resources at our disposal

- To behave - both professionally and personally - in a manner that is
always above reproach

A Pledge of Service

- To work diligently within our communities and in the Council

- To serve the needs of the community

- To maintain an open-door policy towards all members of the community

- To actively participate in Council meetings and in community meetings

- To be the voice of the community in all Council meetings

- To regularly report back to the community on development in Council and on
issues affecting the lives of members of the community

A Pledge of Delivery

- To prioritise development in the area being represented and in the
community generally

- To bring relief to the most vulnerable sectors of our society, including
the aged, the young and those worst affected by the HIV-AIDS pandemic

- To promote poverty relief

- To ensure the delivery of basic services, such as water, electricity,
roads, sanitation, etc.

- To promote job creation

- To facilitate access by the community to government services

- To facilitate and enable the acquisition of all grants, including, child,
disability, old age pensions, etc

A pledge not honoured is useless. The IFP is, therefore, committed to
ensuring that its representatives - candidates and elected councillors -
uphold this pledge. To this end, we pledge:

- To establish a monitoring mechanism to ensure that IFP councillors abide
by their pledge

- To investigate all cases of corruption levelled against its councillors
which are reported in writing to The IFP Political Oversight Committee

- To act quickly and decisively should any of our councillors be found
guilty of corruption

- To create an early warning system to detect malfunctioning councils

- To dismiss councillors not attending Council meetings and community
meetings

- To dismiss councillors not working for their communities

- To ensure that the quality of our candidates is of the highest standard"

That is the commitment we made in 2006. Today, we reaffirm this commitment
with a new Service Delivery Agreement which recognises that many of the
people we were elected to serve are dissatisfied with the pace of change. It
also appreciates the opportunity offered by the 2011 Local Government
Elections for the electorate to judge the performance of municipalities and
councillors, and the parties whom they represent.

It is right and fitting, therefore, that a key element of this Agreement is
the acknowledgment that the interests of the Party come before the interests
of any individual. Recently we have been slated in the media for redeploying
our members, as though this were some kind of punishment or demotion.

In reality, the Party is readying itself to contest the Local Government
Elections and we are streamlining our Party, placing key people in key
positions. We are, as they say, choosing horses for courses.

Nevertheless, in light of the internal challenges we have faced, every move
we make is now read with sinister intentions. The ructions caused by the
"Friends of VZ" have damaged the IFP's reputation and led the pundits to see
a devil in every doorknob. It is true, as we have openly acknowledged, that
our internal difficulties have distracted us from growing the Party,
mobilising support and even fulfilling our duties of service delivery. The
problems we have been seized with are not simple or frivolous. Lives have
been lost in this fracas. Unity has been compromised.

But today, we return wholeheartedly to our fundamental commitment to serve
the people of South Africa. A new season has opened. Not only will I, as the
President of the IFP, hold you to this commitment, but the electorate will
hold you to it. If you fail to uphold it, you will fail in their eyes, and
the IFP will be weakened. I therefore wish to sound a warning to the senior
leaders who have signed this Agreement today. You cannot leave this place
and return to your ward and engage in infighting and divisive behaviour. You
cannot go back and stand in the way of service delivery by provincial and
national government. You cannot return to serve your own interests.

Although our commitment today reflects the IFP's foundational beliefs and is
nothing new, something has fundamentally changed with the signing of this
Agreement. We have acknowledged that the IFP will not continue ad infinitum
simply by virtue of its legacy. It is not up to me, Mangosuthu Buthelezi, to
keep this Party going. It is up to you, our foot soldiers; our councillors
and representatives. The future of the IFP hangs in the balance and it is
only your hard work that can tip the scales in favour of growth and success.

There is a possibility that the IFP could lose support in the 2011 Local
Government Elections. That is possible. But it is not certain. It is not set
in stone. The outcome can still be influenced. But what is certain and set
in stone is the fact that this Province has been in decline since the IFP
handed over the reins of leadership to the ANC. And that is a problem the
IFP must take on for the sake of our people. We must challenge the coming
elections, not merely with the intention to survive, but with the conviction
that the IFP is desperately needed.

One of the headlines in 'The Mercury' on Monday the 18th of October 2010
was: 'KZN FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT WORSE' a report by a senior reporter Ms
Christelle Terblanche. This was a report based on the Auditor-General
Terence Nombembe's report on all Provinces. The following was written on the
Province of KwaZulu Natal:

"In KwaZulu Natal there were qualified audits for the department of Health,
Public Works, Social Development and Royal Household. There were no
disclaimers. Unauthorised spending amounted to R862.8million.

The Province fared worst in improving its overall vacancy rate with 60 per
cent of departments faltering, while more than half of senior management
positions remained vacant for more than a year. However improvements in
financial management were noted in most departments."

The IFP's legacy of integrity is needed to combat the creeping corruption
that is stealing into municipalities in KwaZulu Natal. The IFP's commitment
to leadership through service must challenge the self-enrichment ideology of
tenderpreneurs. The IFP's experience in governance, administration and
financial management must show up inept, incompetent leadership. The IFP's
sound policies must inform a floundering system. The IFP's courage must
expose weak leadership. And the IFP's honesty must arrest the lie that
KwaZulu Natal is better off without us, when KwaZulu Natal has been worse
off ever since the IFP was no longer at the helm.

Our Party has been serving South Africa with excellence and a clear
conscience for 35 years. Let us not grow weary now. I urge our members not
to look to the battles we have lost, but to the war that is far from over.
The war for good governance still rages. We are still fighting for the
complete liberation of all South Africa's people. The IFP does not stand
among the poorest of the poor and say "you are free", simply because we can
vote. We link arms with our people and say "you can be free" if we work
together, hard and smart, and never give up. For most South Africans, our
political freedom is meaningless when juxtaposed with so much poverty and
unemployment. It is heart-rending to read in 'The Mercury' report that more
than half of senior management positions in the KwaZulu Natal government
remain vacant for more than a year in the midst of so much unemployment.

I challenge every Mayor, Deputy Mayor, Councillor and Exco Member that signs
this Agreement today, to return to your constituencies and link arms with
your people. It is time to seriously assess the needs of our communities and
decide on a way forward to bring our people out of the chains of poverty,
unemployment, lack of opportunity, lack of basic resources and a lack of
hope. Our Political Oversight Committee will be watching. I shall be
watching. The electorate will be watching. You have a big task ahead of you.
But you have a strong Party behind you.

Success is possible. We can contest the 2011 Local Government Elections and
emerge victorious. We can prove the doomsayers wrong. And for the sake of
the people we serve, the people of South Africa, we dare not do other than
win. I receive this Agreement as your commitment to that goal. And make no
mistake; South Africa will hold you to it