Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) leader Mangosuthu Buthelezi on Tuesday urged voters in KwaZulu-Natal’s capital city of Pietermaritzburg to save the country from corruption by voting for the IFP.

Buthelezi, who visited the city’s taxi ranks meeting members of the public, urged Pietermaritzburg voters to show their faith in his leadership by voting for the IFP.

“Our country is rotten because of corruption that prevails in all levels of government. We say our track of clean governance record speaks for itself when we were in power during the time of KwaZulu-Natal government there was not a whiff of corruption,” said Buthelezi.

He said voting for the African National Congress (ANC) would drag South Africa deeper into trouble.

He lamented the slow economic growth fingering the ANC as one of the primary reasons for troubles witnessed in the country.

“President Jacob Zuma promised half a million jobs, but what we have seen in fact are job losses," he said.

Buthelezi expressed concern about the incidents of violence in the build-up to the elections and called on the police to do everything possible to arrest the perpetrators of violence.

“The intra-party violence among ANC members over who will be a councillor has already marred these elections and we have seen this spreading to other parts of the province,” said Buthelezi.

He expressed reservations over the security cluster capacity to deal with violence during the 2016 municipal elections on August 3.

He said he would continue to urge IFP party supporters not to be drawn into violence even when provoked. Buthelezi’s visit comes a day before ANC president Zuma visits Pietermaritzburg.