Honourable Speaker

The IFP is not looking forward to commemorating Heritage day. As a country,
we have not handled social cohesion in a satisfactory manner; we are even
more divided than in 2010 during the world cup. Even in this house, racial
slurs are common and do not reflect any measure of cohesion or nation
building.

One of the greatest ways in which we can respect our past is by bettering
our future. In many ways this has been achieved; but in far more ways it has
not. A great deal of work must still be done.

In the realm of HIV/AIDS, its recognition and treatment we have seen this
government evolve from the position of total denialism to one in which
HIV/AIDS, its prevention and cure is now first and foremost on our health
agendas. The Inkatha Freedom Party has always championed the fight against
this scourge, even when it was wildly unpopular to do so. We supported the
Treatment Action Campaign in their legal battle to have neviripine given
freely to HIV POSITIVE women who were pregnant so as to prevent the
transmission of this dread disease from mother to child. As the provincial
government of the time in KwaZulu-Natal we were also the first province to
roll out this preventative medicine in all of our public health facilities.
The last twenty years have accorded us a heritage of 'transition' from the
old apartheid style form of governance to the new democratic dispensation.
The Ruling Party have had the great task of navigating this transition,
which they performed at some times, admirably and at others, dismally.

Our Municipal services are in a state of disintegration that beggars belief.
Year after year, we see service delivery protests over basic services such
water, housing and electricity. Our municipal system is on the verge of
collapse. Instances of mismanagement, fraud and corruption are everywhere.
Our people are suffering.

We speak proudly of how far this country has come from the days of
apartheid. Yet shades of what that government did to our people are evident
in our current government. Future generations will have nothing of substance
to celebrate if all they receive from us is a political, social and cultural
heritage that completely divides us.

Our heritage is composition of all of our differences working together. Our
democracy must not be used to advance the agenda of a certain part of our
country - it should benefit all of us who live in South Africa.
In fact, It is high time that this government draws a line in the sand
stating this far and no further on public services mismanagement,
corruption, fraud and incompetence.

This is not the heritage we want to leave to our children.

I thank you

Issued by the IFP