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Dear friends and fellow South Africans,

The writing is on the wall. The ANC has called in the NFP's debt and
brought it into a coalition that enables the ANC to take control of 19
municipalities in KwaZulu Natal that were hung after the May 18
election.

It was a strategic move by the ANC to usurp control from the IFP at
local government level. Prior to the elections, we run 32
municipalities in KwaZulu Natal; more than the ANC. This irked the ANC
no end, because ever since I diverged from the changing vision of the
ANC during apartheid and offered disenfranchised South Africans an
alternative to the armed struggle, sanctions and external leadership,
the ANC has been intent on destroying me.

This is not the fancy of an old man. President Nelson Mandela himself
admitted in April of 2002, "We have used every ammunition to destroy
him, but we failed. And he is still there. He is a formidable
survivor. We cannot ignore him."

I quoted these words in the National Assembly on February 15 this
year, during the debate on the President's state of the nation
address, when I brought before Parliament overwhelming evidence that
the formation of the NFP was being bankrolled by some ANC leaders.

I detailed how ANC money and propaganda were used to promote Ms
kaMagwaza-Msibi; how the ANC Women's League publically sang "Zanele is
ours" long before she left us; how the ANC's heavyweight, Minister
Tokyo Sexwale, publically confirmed the lie that she was being
persecuted; how hordes of ANC members flocked to the High Court to
support her failed case against us; how the ANC Premier in KwaZulu
Natal clandestinely met with Ms kaMagwaza-Msibi just before she split
our Party; how the media was paid off to protect her from negative
reporting; how a close confidante of the ANC President sponsored NFP
members; and how secret funding was provided for the NFP's campaign in
Zululand.

This was part of the body of evidence that proved the ANC was backing
the NFP. The plot was to split the vote in the Local Government
Elections between the IFP and the NFP, enabling the ANC to gain the
majority. A weakened IFP meant a stronger ANC. The effectiveness of
this plot was tested in Umlalazi and Umtshezi during by-elections
prior to May 18, when NFP members stood as independent candidates and
handed those municipalities to the ANC on a silver platter.

This is why Ms kaMagwaza-Msibi did not run into the arms of the ANC
when she left the IFP in January this year; because the vote would
then still be between the IFP and the ANC. It would have prematurely
exposed the truth to the electorate that the NFP was an ANC project.

So when I stood up in Parliament and exposed this truth prior to the
elections, it put the ANC-NFP nose severely out of joint.

The hurdle they faced was not how they would win the elections;
because enough damage had been wrought and enough groundwork had been
done to ensure that the electorate would be divided on the question of
the NFP's veracity as an independent party capable of fulfilling its
promises. The real hurdle was how they would spin it to the people
when the moment of truth finally came.

The 19 hung municipalities ensured that that moment came sooner rather
than later. The ANC could not take control without bringing in the
NFP, and the NFP owed the ANC an enormous debt. But, again, how would
they spin this coalition to the electorate?

In a painstakingly worded statement, Premier Zweli Mkhize claimed,
"the ANC-NFP relationship was not based on political whims. It has
been founded on the understanding that the communities under the
municipalities that will be co-governed by the ANC and the NFP have
instructed us to work together to speed up service delivery."

What utter rubbish. The communities were never asked after the
elections whether they would like an ANC-NFP coalition. They were
asked their opinion during the elections, and that is where they
clearly spoke. Wherever the IFP got more votes than the NFP, or even
won the majority, the electorate was saying they preferred the IFP to
govern. But the ANC refused to co-govern with the IFP. It was not the
will of the people for the ANC to co-govern with the NFP. As always,
it was the will of the ANC.

The ANC is an old hand at claiming "the will of the people" for any of
its mistakes, schemes and treacheries. But this time the people are
not impressed. There have been complaints even from Ms
kaMagwaza-Msibi's most staunch followers that they were not consulted
and they have no intention of working with the ANC. Indeed, despite
the announcement of an ANC-NFP coalition, the IFP's Stan Larkan has
been elected unopposed as Mayor in Umlalazi and the IFP's Mrs Xulu as
Speaker. The NFP has taken a Deputy Speaker position, while the ANC
simply walked out. Clearly the people did not ask for an ANC-NFP
coalition in Umlalazi. So much for the ANC's spin.

The NFP, being young and inexperienced, had a little more trouble with
its spin. Ms kaMagwaza-Msibi announced, "We have come to the
conclusion that our parties share the same values, desires and vision
for the future of the people of this province, hence we need to work
together to improve the lives of our communities."

When did she come to this conclusion? She spent the better part of two
years protesting that she was more IFP than the IFP itself. Even her
court papers couldn't decide whether she had joined the IFP when she
was 13 or 27, nor when she had become National Chairperson. Just days
before she took leadership of the NFP ? the party which had been
prepared for her more than three months earlier ? she was still
publically protesting that her heart was with the IFP and she would
never, ever leave it.

Remarkably, the NFP put forward no ideological differences that would
explain why, after decades of promoting IFP policy in a leadership
position ? a position from which a diverging opinion was never once
expressed ? Ms kaMagwaza-Msibi felt a new party was necessary. Indeed,
the NFP never came up with a coherent vision or mission statement. Its
stated values were no different to those expressed in the IFP. Its
policies offered nothing new.

Nevertheless, the NFP claimed to be a better version of the IFP
because presumably it shared all our principles and ideals, but did so
on the basis of ?fresh blood'. They even campaigned on the back of the
IFP's legacy, claiming the IFP's successes in governance as their own.

So at what point did the NFP suddenly realise that it was really more
in tune with the ANC's "values, desires and vision"? Well, at the
point in which riding the IFP's coat tails became less lucrative than
riding the ANC's.

The electorate are not fools. Certainly they have been betrayed and
led down the garden path, but I doubt anyone could still question the
veracity of the IFP's election claim that a vote for the NFP was a
vote for the ANC.

Where does this leave the IFP? There is little point in saying, "I
told you so". I have had opportunity in more than 60 years of politics
to say those words more times than I can remember. But they have never
given me comfort. For in the end it is the people of South Africa who
suffer whenever my warnings turn out to be right. It is the people who
suffer when the ANC's plots come to fruition.

The IFP has been forced into a position that we are well-equipped to
occupy; that of opposition politics. On Tuesday the IFP Youth Brigade
and Sadesmo released a joint statement calling for a grassroots
movement among our youth to watch the new coalition every step of the
way and be vigilant to expose its inevitable failures and abuses.

I am proud that this initiative was launched by our youth, for it
proves that the IFP is still driven by young South Africans who have a
passion for democracy. There is nothing staid about us. But our age
has given us the gift of experience. The IFP carries many battle
scars; many of which signify victories. We have vast experience in
holding the ruling Party to account.

We did it when we stood against the armed struggle. We did it when we
forced the creation of provinces during constitutional negotiations.
We did it during the arms procurement scandal when SCOPA was headed by
an IFP MP. We did it when we sought to bring skills into South Africa
through sound migration laws. We did it when we went to the
Constitutional Court, forcing the provision of anti-retrovirals to
prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV/Aids. We did it when we
stood up against nationalisation, and we did it with our recent call
to filibuster the passing of secrecy laws.

The IFP can do radical opposition. We will remain a thorn in the ANC's flesh.

Before the ANC called in the NFP's debt, Ms kaMagwaza-Msibi made a
last ditch attempt to salvage her shattered integrity. She said she
would consider a coalition with the IFP, if the IFP would apologise
for exposing the truth about the NFP. She was asking for the moon, and
she knew it.

There was no space for the apology she wanted. We could not deny the
truth. At best, we could apologise for making the truth public. But it
is in the nature of the IFP to speak the truth and to expose political
manipulation that is antithetical to democracy.

We will keep doing what it is in our nature to do, for South Africa is
crying out for principled leadership.

Yours in the service of the nation,