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Dear friends and fellow South Africans,

Something perverse happened in the past decade that disrupted the
course of democracy in South Africa, but we may have a chance to set
it right. Best of all is that the ones to do it are the people
themselves.

Over the course of a few years, floor crossing legislation enabled
MPs, MPLs and local government councilors to swop their allegiance
between political parties, taking their seat with them. It was a
betrayal of the electorate and a betrayal of democracy. The will of
the people was subverted, putting the power to decide who should lead
into the hands of politicians.

In January 2006, in an interview with the South African Press
Association, I said, "Floor-crossing? robs the political system of all
honour, holding political parties hostage by rendering them unable to
discipline their own members. It allows the emergence of careerists,
self-serving politicians; which are a very strange breed because they
do not honour the sanctity of the vote cast in the ballot box."

The IFP rejected floor crossing legislation, because we believe that
the will of the people is supreme in a genuine democracy. The people
deserve to receive the leadership they choose. Floor crossing opened
the way for chequebook politics, and many of those who shifted
allegiance were bribed and then rewarded.

One of the places worst affected by floor crossing legislation was the
district of Ugu in KwaZulu Natal. Although the people had chosen an
IFP leadership and given their mandate to the IFP through the ballot
box, the ANC took over control of Ugu and its local municipalities.
The people had spoken, but the ANC ignored them.

On the 18th of May, the people have another chance to speak, and this
time the ANC will be forced to respect their voice. Things could
change for Ugu. Democracy can triumph again.

The IFP was therefore devastated when the Independent Electoral
Commission disqualified us from contesting the local government
elections in Umzumbe, a local municipality in Ugu. We had missed the
IEC's deadline for submitted our candidate list for Umzumbe, although
we had tried everything in our power to get the documents in on time.

Umzumbe is a deeply rural area and lacks the infrastructure to
facilitate the speedy transmission of documents. When we realised we
wouldn't be able to get the documents in on time the usual way, the
IFP tried to hire a helicopter to fly our candidate list out of
Umzumbe. But the weather was bad and the helicopter could not take the
risk.

These were circumstances beyond our control and we sought the IEC's
leniency on the matter. But when the IEC excluded the IFP from the
elections in Umzumbe, we knew we had to take the matter further. We
contested their decision before the Electoral Court, and the Court
ruled in our favour.

It was a victory for Umzumbe. But more than that, it was a victory for
democracy.

The Court ruled that the IEC should have made allowance for the fact
that circumstances were beyond our control. But it also noted that
excluding the IFP from the local government elections in Umzumbe
Municipality would be detrimental to democracy, because clearly the
IFP has many supporters in Umzumbe and denying them the right to vote
for the IFP would be denying them their voice.

This is the same voice that the ANC disregarded. It is the voice with
which the people can now set right the perversion of democracy that
was perpetrated against them through the floor crossing legislation.

The IEC has approached the Constitutional Court to challenge the
ruling of the Electoral Court, and the IFP has opposed their
application. For us, the stakes are just too high. Denying Umzumbe
their choice is denying them their voice.

This time, may democracy win.

Yours in the service of the nation,