Thank you for receiving us here today with such a warm welcome. I know 
that KwaMashu is under great duress. You have been living under the 
shadow of violence for months now and I know that many of you fear for 
your lives even as you go about your daily business. That is not 
right. That is not the kind of situation that should exist in an 
established democracy. This is not the eighties. This is not 
apartheid, and we are no longer suffering a People's War. Why then do 
you and your family have to live in fear?

You know as well as I do that there are people in leadership positions 
in our country who are willing to put politics before the value of 
human life. That is not right. I have knocked on the door of political 
leaders for decades, calling for reconciliation and a healing of old 
wounds. I have called for peace when all around me were burying our 
members and supporters. I have urged grieving families not to take up 
arms in retaliation, for there is no retribution in violence. There is 
only more violence.

Here, in KwaMashu, I have been touched by the resilience of a people 
under extreme duress. I want to thank you for maintaining peace, for 
allowing justice to take its course and for assisting the police in 
their investigations. The media has made a meal out of the fact that 
people protested here last Sunday when the leader of the NFP rolled 
into town unannounced with her convoy of 30 cars, seeking to campaign 
for next week's by-election. But I have pointed out in the same media 
that a powder keg has been created in KwaMashu and, under the 
circumstances, this community should be applauded for its patience.

That is not to say that I approve of what happened last Sunday. I wish 
it had not happened. I have warned people not to raise the 
temperature. I have warned people not to brandish weapons in a show of 
bravado, for tensions are so high that anything can go wrong. I pray 
that from here to Wednesday's by-election, everyone will stay calm; 
and may that calm continue into the festive season and beyond. This 
community carries a responsibility, but so too do the leaders of 
political parties.

I have come to KwaMashu this afternoon knowing that the NFP will be 
back to campaign for your vote, and the ANC was here this morning. By 
the way, the ANC will roll back into town on Monday under the guise of 
a Government initiative. The MEC for Health has invited the Mayor and 
Councillors to an event they have called "Taking Services to the 
People". What this means is that the ANC is using your tax money to 
come here and tell you to vote for them. That is what they do whenever 
there is a by-election. We saw it in uMtshezi and again in Hlabisa, 
where they suddenly moved government ceremonies towards where 
by-elections were about to be held. Do you really want to pay to be 
told who to vote for?

I find it amazing that the ANC, beyond using taxpayers' money to 
campaign for votes, which is pure corruption, thinks that they can 
convince you to vote for the ANC by showing you how much they have 
done as a government. There is a great deal the IFP could teach the 
ANC about governance! We ran the erstwhile KwaZulu Government for 
about 18 years. The present ANC Government has been in power since 
1994. And let us look at what has happened in this Province. On a 
shoestring budget, we did far more in this Province for black South 
Africans compared with what the ANC Government in this Province has 
done for our people.

They have not built even half the 6 500 schools that we built. We 
built colleges for the training of teachers throughout the Province, 
and they shut them down for no rhyme or reason, except that they were 
built by an IFP KwaZulu Government.

Many lives were lost to HIV/Aids because the ANC Government would not 
give Nevirapine to pregnant mothers to avoid their babies being born 
already HIV-positive. We as the IFP had to go to the Constitutional 
Court to force them to do it. So many people died of Aids 
unnecessarily, because of the ANC's refusal to distribute 
anti-retrovirals. Yes, figures have now been flaunted by the ANC 
Provincial Government showing that the number of babies being born 
free of HIV is increasing. But this is not to their credit. It is to 
the credit of the IFP for taking this matter to the Constitutional 
Court.

Even the present Premier of this Province, Dr Mkhize, a medical 
doctor, tried to put a spanner in the works by going to court to say 
that Dr Mtshali had no authority to take this issue of Nevirapine to 
court because he, Dr Mkhize, was the MEC for Health and it was his 
line function to deal with health matters and not Dr Mtshali's. The 
Constitutional Court ruled against Dr Mkhize stating that the final 
authority in the Province resided in the Premier.

The ANC's MEC for Health continues to disappoint us. Just recently, a 
horrific road accident took the lives of three members of a family, 
while the son was left fighting for his life at the scene. The only 
way to save this young boy's life was to have him flown to hospital in 
an emergency medical helicopter. But the helicopter was not available. 
It was being used by the MEC for Health, Dr Sbongiseni Dhlomo. Thus 
the boy was rushed to hospital by ambulance, and was pronounced dead 
upon arrival. A family was wiped out.

Immediately we questioned why the MEC was using Durban's only 
emergency medical helicopter, and the answer we got was that the MEC 
was attending to urgent conflict matters in Hlabisa. For weeks, that 
is the story the MEC continued to tell. But then the truth emerged. 
The MEC had commandeered the emergency medical helicopter to attend a 
funeral. He could have driven there, or taken an ordinary helicopter. 
But somehow he felt he had the right to place lives in jeopardy for 
his own needs.

That is the kind of leadership offered by the ANC. It is the kind of 
leadership the NFP was only too delighted to foist on 19 
municipalities in KwaZulu Natal that never wanted an ANC leadership. 
The ANC's plot to split our Party in order to expand their power was, 
tragically, successful. The IFP was divided and our Party split. Our 
supporters were misled and some lost hope. Many were lied to as the 
NFP drew people away from their life-long political home. But as 
painful as that was, it is over. That chapter in our Party's history 
is closed.

I can say this with conviction, for all the cards are finally on the 
table. The facts are clear as day. The ANC has called in the NFP's 
debt, proving again that without the ANC's involvement, the IFP would 
never have split. The NFP has shown its true colours, by handing power 
straight to the ANC, to the dismay of its councillors and supporters. 
And the IFP has regrouped, having shed all those who put position over 
serving and power above integrity. We have come through the storm with 
our legacy intact, and we are more unified now than we were before the 
storm began.

I am proud of the tenacity and strength of the IFP. It speaks of a 
long history of serving in the midst of opposition, oppression and 
hardship. The IFP was formed in the fire and we have been refined in 
the fire. I am proud of all those whose faith in the IFP could not be 
shaken. You have been proven right. You were on the side of integrity, 
on the side of servant leadership, on the side of a party that stuck 
to the principles of peace, unity and inclusivity, even as other 
liberation organisations faltered. Now you are standing on the side of 
a party that is gaining ground and offering hope in a very bleak 
political landscape.

I know that some people have something to gain from riling the 
community in KwaMashu, and they even capitalise on negative incidents. 
But that is not the IFP. That is not how we do things. We do things in 
sincere desire to see stability restored to KwaMashu, because this is 
where you live; this is where children play, women make food and 
families sleep. This is where lovers fall in love and people grow old. 
It is where ordinary life happens. It is where the daily struggle for 
survival plays out, in a place and an economy that cannot support many 
of our people. The IFP looks beyond the politics of ANC-NFP-DA-COPE. 
We look to the hearts, and needs, of ordinary people in KwaMashu, and 
we seek to serve.

That is the character of the IFP. Some would like to portray us as 
violent, the way they used to do before 1994 when propaganda against 
the IFP was rife. But the truth is that your enemy attacks wherever 
there is strategic benefit. If our opponents can get people to believe 
the IFP is something entirely different to what we are, they hope they 
can ruin our legacy. That is why the leader of the NFP, who championed 
the IFP for several decades and knew our character back to front, 
suddenly claims that the IFP has actually always been violent. What 
nonsense.

You know as well as I do that the IFP's greatest opposition over all 
the years was born of the fact that we rejected violence in South 
Africa. We rejected the ANC's overtures to use Inkatha structures to 
bring an armed struggle and guerrilla warfare into South Africa. From 
the moment we took the moral high ground and rejected violence, 
bloodshed and fear, we were vilified and attacked. The ANC was never 
keen on having Inkatha around after they abandoned the founding 
principles of our liberation movement, for we were a constant reminder 
that the ANC was becoming something that its founding fathers never 
intended it to be.

Today's ANC is a far cry from the ANC of 1912. This is not even 
Mandela's ANC anymore, for Mandela at least made some noises about 
seeking reconciliation, with good intentions. Today's leadership of 
the ANC mentions reconciliation every so often and then does 
everything possible to drive a wedge between us.

However, I have not come to KwaMashu to complain about the 
questionable leadership of the ANC, or even the equally questionable 
leadership of the NFP. I have come here to tell you that the IFP is 
strong and well and still a threat to the selfish ambitions of other 
parties. Just as our commitment to non-violence showed up the worst in 
the ANC, so too does our integrity and selfless service show up the 
self-interest and corruption of the ANC, together with their little 
sister, the NFP. The IFP is targeted for attack because we offer 
something people want and something other parties are unwilling or 
unable to give; a leadership of integrity.

I want to encourage you with the results of by-elections that have 
been held across KwaZulu Natal since May 2011, so that you will know 
that the IFP is on an upward trajectory as we head towards 2014. In 
December 2011, the IFP contested a by-election in Mtubatuba, and won. 
In February 2012, the IFP contested in Ulundi, and won. In March we 
won in Nongoma and increased our percentage of the vote. In June we 
won in Nqutu and increased our percentage by almost 20%. In August we 
won in Umtshezi, and also took uPhongolo from the NFP. In September we 
won in Nongoma and increased our percentage of the vote. Last month, 
we again increased our share of the vote in Nqutu.

Looking at the by-election results, one journalist wrote this in the 
Daily Maverick newspaper last month: "The NFP was the loser⦠(it) 
lost ground in all cases, and the party will have to ask itself some 
tough questions ahead of its 2014 campaign; the bloom is off its rose 
and it can no longer trade on its novelty value."

That should give us hope for KwaMashu. It should tell us that the 5th 
of December, next Wednesday, can be a turning point for KwaMashu. It 
is painful to know that the person you elected to represent you in May 
2011 was killed. It is painful to come to KwaMashu knowing that our 
leaders and members have been under attack. But it is essential that 
we recognise the opportunity in the coming by-election to make our 
opinion known. That is our chance to speak through the ballot box, and 
that is a powerful way to speak, because everyone has to listen.

When I came to KwaMashu in June to thank you for supporting Councillor 
Themba Xulu, I explained that elections are a numbers game. The more 
votes you give us, the more authority we have; and the more authority 
we have in the municipal council, the better we can direct the 
council's time, energy and focus towards serving KwaMashu. Your vote 
in the coming by-election can strengthen governance in KwaMashu. Your 
vote can change everything.

I know that many of you have become disheartened with politics and 
don't even see the point of voting in a Local Government Election, 
never mind a by-election. But let me tell you, your vote counts. You 
need to go to the polling station on Wednesday and cast your vote for 
the IFP. Don't be fooled into thinking that it won't change anything 
if you spend the day in the shebeen, rather than at the polling 
station. You are choosing your leadership by default if you don't 
actively go and choose them at the polling station whenever an 
election is held.

One vote for the ANC can only be cancelled out by two votes for the 
IFP. It's not one for one, or one for none. So if you don't go and 
vote for the party you support, you will have effectively voted 
against them. This is why you often hear that democracy is both a 
responsibility and a right.

On Wednesday that right will be placed in your hands; the right to 
make a change in KwaMashu. In Wednesday's by-election, let us fortify 
the partnership between KwaMashu and the IFP, by keeping this ward 
where it belongs; with the IFP. This ward has cried out for an IFP 
leadership. The power is in your hands to give your family, your 
community and your friends and neighbours what they asked for in 2011. 
Let democracy be respected in KwaMashu. Let the people's voice be heard.

There is no need to express your anger, fear and grief in violent 
protest. Express it through the ballot box. That is the way to be 
heard in a democracy. No one can ignore what you say through your 
vote. Use your vote to honour the memory of our fallen leaders and 
supporters, and to keep their legacy alive in the place they lived.  
Please let us use our votes on Wednesday to express our disgust at the 
murder of Themba Xulu whom you had elected, and others who have died 
because they are members of our Party.  Violence is out.  Let us 
express ourselves in democratic fashion through our votes rather than 
through the gun, the spear and matches.

Vote in Wednesday's by-election. Vote for the IFP.

I thank you.