Thank you for welcoming me and the leadership of the IFP, so that we can set a
few things straight. There are people with an agenda to mislead IFP supporters
in Nongoma. Their motive, as always, is to change your vote, and give power away
to the ANC. This would be a disaster for you and your families. I therefore want
to give you the facts, so that you can make an informed decision on what to
believe.

Much is being said right now about the IFP and how our Party is losing support.
Some people are asking, "Is it true?" There are two ways to check whether this
is just empty propaganda. The first is to see who is saying it. It's not the
IFP. It's not the community. It's not even the polls and statistics. This line
is being pushed by the ANC; our age old political opponents. And we know how
often the ANC has predicted the IFP's demise. We also know how often they have
been dead wrong.

The second way to check whether the IFP is really losing support, is to look at
the facts. Since May 2011, the IFP has won by-elections in Nongoma, Mtubatuba
and Ulundi. Here in Nongoma, we increased our percentage of the vote. We then
won in Nqutu and increased our percentage by almost 20%. We won in Umtshezi, and
also took uPhongolo from the NFP. Then we won for a second time in Nongoma and
again increased our percentage of the vote. We then increased our share of the
vote in Nqutu. We took Hlabisa from the NFP, we won KwaMashu, and we took
Nkandla, the hometown of the ANC President, away from the ANC.

That is the kind of support the IFP is getting. We are growing stronger each day
as we approach 2014, and that is why the ANC is so worried. If we were a dying
party, the ANC wouldn't dedicate so much time and effort to destroying us. The
truth is, we are a formidable opponent, just as former President Nelson Mandela
admitted in 2002. The ANC has used every tactic to destroy the IFP, but we are
still here. They do not want to compete with us. They want to destroy us.

This latest tactic, of luring away councillors and instructing them to do the
maximum damage on their way out, is just a show. It is meant to carry the
message that the IFP is declining while the ANC grows. But, behind the scenes,
the message is empty. It is hollow, without any substance or truth. Because of
this, it can be challenged by the facts. So let us look at those facts.

Our former Constituency Chairperson and ward councillor, Mr Nhlanhla Nyembe,
together with one of our youth leaders and another councillor, have defected to
the ANC. In doing so, they have betrayed not just the IFP. They have betrayed
you. They held their positions based on your votes for the IFP. They promised to
serve you within the IFP, and they promised our Party they would serve with
integrity. They have broken these promises. Not because they were persecuted or
chased away or fired; but because they thought they could get a better deal for
themselves in the ANC.

Some time ago, divisions opened in Nongoma and there were ructions here within
the IFP. Many of you turned to Mr Nyembe for guidance, but he failed to provide
the kind of leadership his position required. Because he wouldn't step up to the
plate, the ructions continued, to the point where National Council called Mr
Nyembe to account. He had a responsibility to guide his constituency and bring
unity, and he was failing.

Unexpectedly, during that National Council meeting, Mr Nyembe repeatedly said
–

in front of me and all the members of National Council – that he intended to
resign. We had hoped to work with him to resolve the ructions in Nongoma. But he
indicated that he wanted to step down from his positions both as Constituency
Chairperson and Ward Councillor.

Following that meeting, however, Mr Nyembe never formally resigned. Thus the
Administrative Secretary wrote to Mr Nyembe on behalf of the National Executive
Committee to confirm the status of affairs. Matters could not just be left
hanging. Nongoma deserves a leader who is fully committed, not someone with one
foot out the door. If Mr Nyembe intended to resign, as he repeatedly told
National Council, the IFP needed to support this constituency and provide a
committed leader.

Unfortunately, Mr Nyembe never deigned to reply to the NEC.

Rumours then began to emerge from all over KwaZulu Natal, and even from Gauteng,
that the IFP had expelled Mr Nyembe. And the source of these rumours was Mr
Nyembe himself. When we heard these rumours, the NEC arranged a meeting with the
leadership of Nongoma to get the facts out in the open. We had never expelled Mr
Nyembe.

Unfortunately, the first meeting had to be aborted, because the leadership in
Nongoma didn't turn up. At the second meeting, they turned up in numbers, which
in itself was odd, because clearly some of these people were not members and
held no positions in the Party.

Our National Chairperson, the Honourable Mr Gwala, insisted on a roll call, and
it was discovered that people had been bussed in to this meeting. More than
that, they had been inculcated to such an extent to believe that the IFP had
expelled Mr Nyembe and his two colleagues that they were not willing to listen
to the NEC. They were already inculcated with the lie, and would not hear the
truth. That meeting became very rowdy, against the culture of our Party to
discuss matters frankly and with due respect.

Then, on Thursday the 8th of August, Ilanga carried a story that the three were
seen going door-to-door with the ANC to canvass votes for our opponents. The
media reported that they were with Dr Meshack Radebe, the ANC MEC for
Agriculture and Environmental Affairs, and the MEC was promising to make fencing
available for people's pastures and fields. Mr Nyembe was quite openly part of
this ANC electioneering exercise.

So we were not surprised when the ANC made a great show of welcoming Mr Nyembe
to the ANC last weekend. Clearly, he had already defected. But he never formally
resigned. He simply jumped ship. And we never expelled him.

There is information now that the ANC was advising him and his two colleagues to
wait until we expelled them, so that they could leave with a grievance and take
a number of people with them. When we didn't expel them, they decided to bite
the bullet and just leave.

So don't allow yourself to be deceived by Mr Nyembe. Don't be misled by Mr Khaya
Khumalo, either, who boasts about how much money he spent on the IFP, when he
was in fact the engine behind much of the division. He was the one bussing
people in to stir up chaos at our meeting. Don't be confused by the lies and
propaganda, when the truth is so clearly laid out before you.

We really shouldn't be taken aback by these three councillors defecting. After
all, the ANC used the NFP to split our Party. This is the same old tactic by the
same old opponent. Let me emphasise again: the ANC does not want to compete with
us. They want to destroy us. What better authority do we need than Nelson
Mandela himself, who admitted that the ANC used every ammunition to destroy us;
and failed?

We remember how billionaires and leaders within the ANC courted and advised Mrs
kaMagwaza-Msibi, coaching her on how to do the maximum damage to our Party when
she left. She too never resigned. She just put out the same lies about being
persecuted and chased away, and then jumped ship. Money was involved, and
promises of positions, when the NFP was formed.

But now the ANC calls the NFP, and I quote, a "soon-to-die party" that "goes
around… renting people from the streets". The honeymoon between the ANC and the
NFP is well and truly over. Last week the NFP dared to announce that members of
the ANC had defected to the NFP. In response, the ANC released a scathing press
statement, warning Mrs kaMagwaza-Msibi that "organisations are not built through
lies and media". She has clearly demonstrated, they said, "that she sees the
people as nothing more than a political market".

Last weekend, the ANC paraded new members who they said had defected from the
IFP and the NFP. When an ANC Councillor, Mr Makhosonke Msibi, returned home that
night, an unknown gunman killed him in front of his family. Clearly tensions are
running high.

I am not suggesting that Mr Msibi's murder was politically motivated. That is
for the police to establish. Crime is too rampant in our country to assume that
a criminal act is anything but criminal. But the fact that the ANC and COSATU
both jumped up and claimed that it was a political killing, shows how high
political tensions are running.

The ANC themselves have admitted that there is an established pattern of
intra-party violence within the ANC. There are also clear tensions between the
ANC and the NFP. But the ANC has a knee-jerk reaction of blaming the IFP
whenever there is violence. Time and time again they have blamed the IFP when an
ANC member is murdered. Later, when the truth comes out, and it is clear that
the IFP is innocent, they never ever apologise. This does nothing to foster
peace between our parties.

It is appalling, and highly provocative, for the ANC to suggest that the murder
of Councillor Msibi has anything to do with his defection from the IFP.
Councillor Msibi left the IFP years ago. There was no animosity between us and
we have worked well with him for years. He was a respected member of our
community in Ulundi, and we were all shocked to learn that he had been
assassinated in cold blood. It is callous for the ANC to use his death to score
political points. Our Party stands with Councillor Msibi's family and extends
our deepest condolences on their terrible loss.

This stale propaganda from the ANC, that the IFP is a violent party, needs to be
put to rest. Inkatha was founded on the principles of non-violence and
negotiations as propounded by the founding fathers of the South African National
Native Congress in 1912. I worked with Mr Oliver Tambo and the ANC's
mission-in-exile, right up until 1979, when the ANC diverged from these
principles and adopted a People's War to create chaos, bloodshed, fear and
intimidation. Inkatha could not subscribe to violence, even as a tool of
liberation. We split from the ANC over that issue, and over the issue of
international sanctions and disinvestment.

It was not just Mangosuthu Buthelezi who opposed sanctions against South Africa.
I held rallies in Johannesburg, Mangaung, Cape Town and Durban, asking the
people to guide us. I sought the genuine will of the people. Again and again
people told me that we would starve without jobs. When international companies
withdrew from South Africa, jobs were lost, and the poorest of the poor suffered
the most.

Carrying the mandate of South Africans who lived every day within South Africa,
I opposed the call of the ANC's mission-in-exile, and I visited Heads of State
around the world trying to convince them that sanctions would harm our country
more than they would help our cause.

The ANC vilified me for daring to stand against them. But today they oppose
sanctions against Zimbabwe for the very same reasons that I opposed sanctions
against South Africa. I have asked President Zuma about this, but he just
smiled. The high level of unemployment our country struggles with today has its
roots in the ANC's willingness to destroy our economy for the sake of power.

Throughout all this, Mandela and I stayed in constant contact. I campaigned
determinedly for his release, and we corresponded right up until he left Victor
Verster. In her latest book, Ms Winnie Madikizela-Mandela writes about my close
relationship with her former husband, and even publishes correspondence he sent
me through my wife, Princess Irene.

Having known Nelson Mandela for sixty years, I know that the ANC of today is not
the ANC he fought for. This is not the ANC of 1912 and it is a far cry from
being what it promised to be when we stepped into democracy in 1994. The ANC has
been in power for almost twenty years, and it has made endless promises. But
besides promises, it has given South Africa very little.

As we approach the 2014 elections, the time has come to compare what the ANC has
done with twenty years of power and state resources, to what the IFP
accomplished when we ran the KwaZulu Government under an oppressive regime. The
ANC has been in control of this Province since 2004, and has managed to build
just 33 schools. The IFP built more than 6000. And we did it with very little
funding from Government at a time when education for blacks was considered
unimportant and undesirable.

The ANC, on the other hand, declares that education is an Apex Priority. They
say it is an essential service. They throw a large percentage of the national
budget at getting education right. But when it comes to the nuts and bolts,
actual delivery, the ANC is empty words and empty promises.

What Inkatha achieved in government, we achieved without a single allegation of
corruption ever being levelled against us. In contrast, the ANC is hounded by
corruption. The integrity of the IFP stands in sharp contrast to the fraud,
bribery, tenderpreneurship and mismanagement of the ANC. There is corruption in
the ANC at every level, from Parliament where Travelgate was exposed, to
provincial government squandering billions of Rands, and municipalities giving
out tenders to officials' wives and partners.

MECs have pillaged Ithala Bank, which I founded when I was Chief Minister in
order to give black people access to loans, which commercial banks would not
give. Millions of Rands have now been written off on loans given to cronies to
buy expensive farms. It is no longer about empowering the poor. It is about
enriching the elite.

People see this, and they are not happy. Service delivery protests are rife in
ANC municipalities. We didn't have these kinds of protests in municipalities
administered by the IFP. We had a partnership with the people, because we are
genuinely here to serve. In contrast, just a few days ago, people were arrested
in Soweto for asking the ANC to deliver on their promises.

The culture of corruption is so entrenched in the ANC that they didn't stop to
question the billions being spent on Nkandla, nor did they allow MEC Mabuyakhulu
and the Speaker of the Legislature to face the fraud charges against them.

We are dealing here with people who no longer know right from wrong, and who
think that might makes right. Winnie Madikizela-Mandela writes in her recent
book that people of her generation are terrified when they see South Africa
slipping back into the old ways of oppression. That, she says, is what is
happening under the ANC. Mandela himself said that if the ANC does to the people
what our oppressors did, the people must do to the ANC what we did to our
oppressors.

Let us disabuse ourselves of this idea that the ANC is some kind of saviour.
They are not going to save South Africa in 2014. Where have they been for the
past twenty years? What have they been doing? South Africa is suffering under
their leadership.

The time has come to stop the onward rampage of a corrupt and power-hungry
party. The ANC's Chairperson of KwaZulu Natal, Mr Senzo Mchunu, admitted in the
Mail & Guardian earlier this year that "The ANC has been built from blood, from
tears, from destruction and one-partyism". The ANC is determined to destroy its
opposition and make South Africa a one-party state, and they will use any tactic
to do it.

Why then should we believe that they will play fair when it comes to next year's
election? Every single election since 1994 has been marred by fraud and
intimidation, yet every election has been declared free and fair. I want you to
know what we are up against, even here in Nongoma.

Last year, during a by-election in Nongoma an NFP leader was caught registering
people at an FET College outside the voting area, in order to boost the NFP's
votes. Another by-election had to be halted at Jozini when electoral fraud was
uncovered. And another was halted in Vryheid. At Maphumulo last week, one of our
agents discovered a woman using her husband's ID to vote. When we alerted the
IEC, officials simply said that they were tired, and hadn't noticed. How much
more fraud did our opponents get away with?

We are not dealing here with people who want a free and fair election. We are
not dealing with people who want to understand the will of the people, or
receive a mandate from those they are supposed to serve. No; we are dealing with
a party that wants to destroy the IFP through lies, propaganda, fraud, bribery
and any other means, because the IFP poses a threat to their sovereignty.

While I am dealing with the lies of the ANC, let me challenge this nonsense that
my grandfather, King Dinuzulu, was a member of the ANC. I don't get my history
from books or hearsay. I learned about the formation of the ANC from my uncle,
Dr Pixley ka Isaka Seme, one of the 1912 founding fathers. He had a house in
Mahashini, not far from KwaDlamahlahla Palace where I grew up.

He told me that at the founding of the South African National Native Congress a
provision was put in place that all Amakhosi would be patrons of the ANC. Thus
Dr Seme approached my grandfather, King Dinuzulu, just as he did Queen Gwamile
of Swaziland, and others, to become patrons. By 1912, King Dinuzulu was ailing,
and he died in October 1913. It is therefore an unforgivable lie to create the
impression that he was part of the ANC.

But the ANC are experts at deception. On Women's Day last week, President Zuma
boasted about how much has been done to decrease the rate of HIV infection from
mother-to-child. He didn't mention, of course, that the IFP had to take them to
court to force them to roll out anti-retrovirals to mothers and new born babies.
It is because of the IFP that the fight against Aids is finally seeing success.
It is because of the IFP that South Africa is not much further down the road of
disaster than it is right now, under an ANC that has lost its moral compass.

We need to fight these elections. We need to fight hard. The task before us now
is to register voters and bring them into the IFP fold. 2014 is not going to be
won on the day of the election. It is being won now, as people decide for
themselves who has our country's best interests at heart. I urge you to compare
the IFP and the ANC. Look closely at the corruption. Listen to the truth. Then
return to the partnership we have had for so many years. The partnership between
Nongoma and the IFP is a partnership that serves your needs. We are here for
you.

I have come here today to bring you the truth. But I have also come to sound a
clarion call regarding the 2014 elections. We need to strengthen the IFP in
2014. We need to get the votes. I therefore urge you to work flat out between
now and then, registering voters, recruiting new members, encouraging people to
renew their IFP membership, and setting up active, vibrant branches. As always,
our branches will be turned into election committees, and these will be our
powerhouse for the 2014 campaign.

Let me speak now to the young people among us who will be voting for the first
time in 2014. You are the generation of born-frees, and the future belongs to
you. The future doesn't belong to people like me. I am working for your
inheritance. It is up to you to take hold of the reins and shape your country,
with your vote and with your political activity. Get involved. Don't sit on the
side lines, frustrated and apathetic. Jump in and be a game-changer.

It is up to you to undo the damage the ANC has wrought on a democratic South
Africa. It is up to you to strengthen a leadership of integrity, that speaks
with the genuine voice of the people. Let us give our country what it so
desperately needs: a change in leadership. Let 2014 be the year of the IFP.

I thank you.