It is a pleasure for me, as the President of the IFP, to visit Vryheid  
this afternoon. Thank you for welcoming me and leaders of my Party to  
share a special moment with this community, as we honour the  
historical relationship between the founding fathers of Vryheid and my  
own forbears, the kings of the Zulu nation.

I have a keen interest in history, partly because of my royal lineage  
and partly because of my love for South Africa. I grew up in Nongoma  
and I remember that whenever we talked about "town", we meant Vryheid.  
Much has changed since then, but Vryheid remains a central point in  
this area.

My interest in history is shared by our Chief Whip in the IFP's  
Parliamentary Caucus, Mr Koos van der Merwe, who recently visited the  
Old Raadsaal while travelling through Vryheid. When he saw the desk of  
General Lucas Meyer, the President of the New Republic, he noticed  
that General Meyer's Bible, which is now some 130 years old, was in  
poor condition.

Like me, Mr van der Merwe knows the history of the New Republic and  
its link to my grandfather, King Dinuzulu ka Cetshwayo. He also knows  
that I am a Christian who has sought refuge and guidance in the Word  
of God for many years. He therefore offered to have General Meyer's  
Bible restored.

I am honoured to bring this Bible back to Vryheid today, so that it  
may be placed in the Old Raadsaal once again. I hope that it will now  
withstand a few more generations, for it is good to have tangible  
reminders of our history.

General Meyer, as you may know, came to be President of the New  
Republic in 1884 after Afrikaner mercenaries assisted in restoring my  
grandfather's rightful seat on the throne. When the Anglo-Zulu War  
ended with the Battle of Ulundi in 1879, King Cetshwayo was captured  
and exiled, and the Zulu Kingdom was artificially divided into  
thirteen kinglets. Civil war was inevitable and began between King  
Cetshwayo's uSuthu section and the Mandlakazi section.

The British returned King Cetshwayo from exile in 1883, but Zibhebhu,  
Chief of the Mandlakazi, attacked the royal kraal in Ulundi, wounding  
the King.

The chaos and bloodshed of this time had an impact on Boer farmers,  
like Louis Botha, who repeatedly risked his life to take his father's  
stock from the Highveld to Zululand in search of winter grazing. The  
seasonal movement of livestock was being disrupted, border farmers  
were seeing more and more refugees fleeing from Zululand, and the need  
to restore law and order became a priority. When King Cetshwayo died a  
few months later, his heir, King Dinuzulu, welcomed the assistance of  
the Boer mercenaries. King Dinuzulu regarded Afrikaners as friends of  
his grandfather King Mpande, as they had helped him in the battle  
against King Dingane. Led by General Louis Botha, Dinuzulu's  
volunteers defeated Zibhebhu on the 5th of June 1884 in the Battle of  
Tshaneni.

There was a controversy about the reward from King Dinuzulu to the  
Boer mercenaries, whether it was going to be in the form of cattle or  
land.  Both cattle and land were taken as rewards for that assistance.  
In August 1884, they founded the New Republic, with Vryheid as its  
capital, and General Meyer as President. The Old Raadsaal was then  
built for the town fathers.

The New Republic lasted just four years before it was absorbed into  
the then Transvaal. Two years later, King Dinuzulu was exiled to the  
island of St Helena, where two of my mother's brothers were born. When  
King Dinuzulu returned from exile, he was implicated in the Zulu  
rebellion which is often called the Bambatha Rebellion. He was charged  
with treason and imprisoned.

However, in 1910, his old friend General Louis Botha became the first  
Prime Minister of South Africa. General Botha ordered that King  
Dinuzulu be released and transported to the farm Uitkyk in the  
Transvaal, where he died in 1913.

Before all this, when Dinuzulu was a young man, he had been protected  
by my paternal grandfather, Mnyamana Buthelezi, King Cetshwayo's Prime  
Minister. Dinuzulu lived at Ukushumayeleni, Mnyamana's residence.  
After Cetshwayo's death, two Boer leaders, Jacobus van Staden and  
Koenraad Meyer, took Dinuzulu to a place of safety on a Boer farm on  
the oBivane River.

Thus the founding fathers of Vryheid and my own forbears established a  
relationship for the purposes of economic stability, social stability  
and the installation of a leadership they both respected.

As I come to Vryheid today, the significance of this historic  
relationship echoes into the present. I believe there are many more  
things that bind us, than things that separate us. We are, for  
instance, all South Africans. We are all parents, siblings, spouses or  
children. We all hope for something better and have faith in a higher  
cause.

Let me read the words of the Apostle Paul who wrote to the Ephesians,  
reminding them that the Jews and the Gentiles, no matter how  
different, were the same in Christ. I read from Ephesians Chapter 2  
verse 14 ? "For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and  
has broken down the middle wall of separation?" Then in verses 18 and  
19 ? "For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.  
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow  
citizens with the saints and members of the household of God?"

We are all fellow citizens. May we therefore stand together.

Ends.