Date: 28/03/2009

Source: Inkatha Freedom Party

Title: IFP: Buthelezi: Speech delivered by the IFP president on campaign in Ladysmith

I am delighted to be here with you today in Ladysmith, bringing the IFP
message of hope and determination to build a new South Africa. We are
entering a critical point in this election campaign. In just a few weeks
we will be voting in an election which promises to be a truly defining
moment in our country's history.
The stakes have never been so high. There has never been such a need to
turn a failed and tired government out of office. And there has never
been such an opportunity. After 15 years of broken promises, the public
is crying out for change. Even the most vociferous ANC supporters are
becoming disillusioned. It is down to each and every one of us to use
our votes to show the ANC that South Africa is tired of their broken
promises and the broken society that they have left us with.
.Do you remember what the ANC promised in 1994? They said they would
tackle unemployment and create jobs. But today millions more remain out
of work. They pledged to defeat homelessness. But today millions are
without adequate homes. They promised to provide education for all our
young people. But today tens of thousands remain excluded from school
because of a lack of funds.

The ANC don't want people to be reminded of all these broken promises.
They want us to be quiet about their failings. The ANC want to silence
me when I talk of such things. They want to silence you. Well we will
not be silenced. On April 22 our voices will be heard loud and clear.

So every time the ANC asks "when will the IFP President be quiet?" They
will get their answer. We will not be quiet as long as one of our
children goes to bed hungry or one of our older citizens is living in
poverty. We will not be silenced as long as a single young person is
turned away from school because of a lack of fund or so many of our
people are without jobs or opportunity or hope.

Let me send out a message loud and clear to the ANC. If you want the IFP
President to be quiet, stop breaking your promises as soon as you make
them. If you want the IFP President to be quiet, start looking after the
economy instead of looking after yourselves. If you want Mangosuthu
Buthelezi to be quiet, start creating jobs for all South Africans,
instead of handing out jobs to your friends. But until you start
delivering on your promise and serving the people who elected you.

Stop wasting your breath asking: "when will the IFP be quiet!" I have
fought too long and too hard to bring justice and prosperity to the
people of South Africa, to give up now. So throughout this campaign, my
voice will remain strong and clear, speaking the truth to those who want
to hide away from it.

And I am heartened by all the voices that are joining with mine because
this election is not about me. It is not about the ANC President or any
other political leader.

It is about you. It is about how you exercise your sacred right and duty
to decide how you want South Africa to be governed. If South Africa
chooses the ANC again, we know what we will get: Another five years of
non-delivery; another five years of growing corruption and declining
public services; another five years when the needs of the poorest go
unanswered; another five years of joblessness; homelessness;
hopelessness. That is what South Africa will get if it hands the
government to the ANC again.

We don't have to speculate. We don't have to look into the stars to see
the future. It is written in fifteen years of failure and broken
promises. Let no one be fooled by the new promises that the ANC are
today throwing around like confetti. They lack even a scintilla of
sincerity. These are promises that are broken even before they are made.
The ANC leadership knows that. They are just hoping that the country
does not wake up to the fact before April 22nd.

But we, the IFP, will not let South Africa sleep walk to the voting
stations. Our voices will join together to ensure that South Africa
awakes before it is too late. I have to share with you now a growing
fear that I have for South Africa's future if the ANC remains in power.

Fifteen years into our democracy, the integrity of our whole society is
threatened by a growing culture of corruption. In 1994 the ANC said they
would build a better life for all. But today the question that all South
Africans are asking is 'a better life for whom?' As the poor have got
poorer, a corrupt minority have enriched themselves beyond greed. In
government, in business and in the public services, corrupt practices
have too often become pervasive, tolerated and flourishing

I tell you bluntly, South Africa cannot bear this growing burden of
corruption. It is distorting the moral and economic fabric of our
country. Its tentacles are reaching out into every part of our economy
and society and threatening to choke off its lifeblood. The ANC has had
fifteen years to set an example of transparency and integrity. It
saddens me to say that they have set the opposite example. The IFP will
never be found wanting in this regard. For that reason we have proposed
innovative new approaches to tackling corruption.

We will establish a whistle blowers charter to guarantee the jobs of
those brave public servants who stand up to corrupt employers. And we
will encourage the exposure of corrupt practices by rewarding whistle
blowers with a percentage of the funds that would otherwise have been
lost to the public purse. We will set the highest standards of probity
and integrity in public life.

The stakes could not be higher. We all know what happens when corruption
takes over a society. The economy falls to ruin; morality goes absent
without leave and each person's prosperity becomes at the expense of
another.

That is not the future that any of us want for South Africa. It is not a
future that I will ever tolerate for South Africa. We have a tough
election ahead. I do not underestimate the scale of the challenge. Or
the perilous road we must walk. But nonetheless my heart is filled with
hope.

Because I know the character of the South African people and their
determination to see justice and prosperity return to our land. I know
the innate goodness and generosity of spirit of the South African
people. I never doubted it during the long dark night of apartheid and I
do not doubt it now. Over the past five years since the last election, I
have travelled the length and breadth of South Africa.

I have spoken with thousands of people who like you continue to believe
that there is a better way for this country. I have sat at the bedsides
of Aids victims and felt such a sadness and anger at the years that the
ANC wasted in fighting this tragic disease. I have spoken with young men
and women desperate to put their talents to the use of their country but
are unable to find a job. I have seen the despair of families unable to
provide sufficient food for their table because the government has
abandoned the rural poor.

I have visited with young mothers sheltering in make-shift huts, angry
and desperate at the ANC's failure to provide the housing they promised.
I have seen and heard so much suffering and so much sadness. But I have
also seen and heard so much to give me hope. I have seen hope in the
quiet voices of determination, in the selfless acts of kindness an in
the refusal of the human spirit to give in.

In 25 days we have the opportunity to harness this spirit and bring
change to all South Africa. We know that today, more than ever before,
people are questioning why they should follow the ANC's trail of broken
promises to the voting stations again. This is our opportunity to shape
the future. But it relies on you. We need every one of you to play your
part.

We need you all to help build the just and prosperous South Africa that
we have all dreamed of. Here in KwaZulu-Natal and throughout South
Africa, the IFP is the only party that can challenge the ANC. So I
appeal to each one of you - don't waste your vote. Cherish it and use it
to vote IFP.

If each of you gets out and votes, and gets your friends and family and
neighbours to vote, we can and will win a famous victory. And then we
can set about building a new South Africa: a new country in which we
will provide jobs for the jobless; homes for the homeless and care for
the sick, the elderly and the insecure.

For those who ask "will the IFP do all this for us?" I have a simple
answer: No! We will do it together. So I ask each and every one of you
to go out and vote for the IFP on April 22nd. And on April 23rd we will
start fixing South Africa together.

I thank you.