They asked, "What kind of a man is afraid of a woman?" [Laughter.] This was not done behind closed doors, but in the public eye.
The Deputy President expressed deep concern over the incendiary behaviour of the ANC. Thus, last month, when I attended the launch of the local government elections on 12 January 2011, I asked the Deputy President what progress had been made in resolving these problems. The short answer was; none. [Laughter.] I cannot help but wonder how serious the President's advice to me on 16 July 2010 was. What do I make of what has happened since then?
When Mrs Magwaza-Msibi took the IFP to court ... [Laughter.] ... in November 2010, she was supported by hordes of ANC members, including some of the political luminaries of the ANC such as Pastor Vusi Dube in Pietermaritzburg.
Since she lost that court case and launched her own party, violence has escalated. The violence stirred up by the "Friends of V Z", who supported Mrs Magwaza-Msibi in destroying the IFP, took its toll. The "Friends of V Z" have officially become the National Freedom Party and some ANC leaders are bankrolling their campaign.
Tensions are mounting. People have died in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal. On Sunday, this last Sunday, we buried an IFP councillor, Mr Simon Shange, who was assassinated in Mandeni as a result of these ructions.
The rift that opened in the IFP may have begun with her personal ambition, but certain ANC leaders saw the fracture, took up a chisel and dealt a terrible blow to the IFP. They did it with money and propaganda. They did it to finally destroy their old opponent and they did it while laughing at me, believing they had finally defeated Buthelezi.
My question, looking back on 17 years of democracy, and even further back to the role I played in the liberation of this country, is why some people are still intent on destroying me and the IFP. How can a weakened opposition possibly bode well for democracy in South Africa?
The ANC's Premier in KwaZulu-Natal, who is also the leader of the ANC in KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Zweli Mkhize, has arrogantly proclaimed that the IFP must not drag the ANC into its problems. Yet Dr Mkhize knows well who dragged these problems into the IFP. He himself was seen by several people meeting with Mrs Magwaza-Msibi in Maritzburg, Durban, before she made the decision to tear away from the IFP. It is disingenuous of the ANC to claim that evidence of their interference in the IFP is bogus and counterfeit.
This was their outcry when a copy of what was alleged to be the ANC minutes was anonymously sent to my office, in which the ANC's support of Mrs Magwaza-Msibi was clearly spelled out. Now I have received another copy of what is purportedly "strictly confidential and sensitive information".
I want to put it on record, hon Deputy Speaker, and will read it in its entirety:
It has been resolved that local ANC branches in all KwaZulu-Natal districts must ensure that Mrs Zanele Magwaza-Msibi is receiving enough support as well as protection wherever or in whatever area she visits.
Members of the ANC throughout the province need to be alert and aware that our rival IFP has a history of defeating the odds and winning back their ravaged areas. Therefore, the ANC President is calling on all comrades to be cautious not to take their road mobilisation and recruitment lightly especially within IFP strongholds, because the IFP has strong strategic values as proclaimed by Comrade Magwaza-Msibi during the briefing on 5 December 2010.
I have a concern about Mr Vithi that he is an asthmatic person. The NEC has suggested that the comrades must select someone else to lead the MK members around KwaZulu-Natal for the protection of both the ANC as well as Magwaza-Msibi.
I have approached the Umtata Comrades to send us an alternative comrade to Empangeni team. It has been reported that some members of the IFP especially in Zululand are mobilising and planning for the let down of Mrs Magwaza-Msibi in her endeavours to campaign in Zululand and surrounding areas. Comrade Phindiwe Solani will control the secret funding of such operations by Comrade Vithi's team. No comrade will be allowed to brief or answer any questions from the media except Comrade Sizakele Dyantyi from Umzimkhulu, because Comrade Magwaza-Msibi together with the PEC members have already concluded a deal with one of the KwaZulu-Natal newspapers to ensure that no negativity is published against Magwaza-Msibi because that will hamper her efforts to get more people, members, from the IFP. The incentives for this media editor have already been handed over.
Comrades, we have to coerce a number of journalists into our bag otherwise if we fail the IFP will rise stronger than before. After the launch by Magwaza-Msibi the NEC will assess the situation and decide whether to put more funds in her efforts or whether she should just be asked to stand on her own or dissolve the new name and wear the ANC cap without any conditions from her.
The last briefing will take place at the South Coast Sun Hotel on 5 February 2011. The security has already been arranged for that date and for Magwaza-Msibi. Comrades, mayiwe Inkatha! Mayiwe! Amandla!
That is the end.
Now after all the shouting, what am I supposed to make of this? And what am I to think of sworn affidavits from the mayor, the Speaker and the caucus chairperson of uMvoti Municipality, attested to by a senior police officer, that during a selection committee meeting on 1 February ANC Councillor P G Mavundla said that he had given financial assistance to the "Friends of V Z" and was now funding the new National Freedom Party? This was in an official committee!
As Your Excellency knows, Councillor P G Mavundla is the chairperson of the ANC in the Bhambatha region and a close confidante of both the President and the Premier of KwaZulu-Natal, Dr Zweli Mkhize.
He is a strange person because, before I came here, Zamokuhle Mkhize, a young chap, who defected from the ANC and joined us, was telling me on the phone, desperate, that she had said publicly that his days are numbered. That's what Ms Mavundla has said.
The Mayor of uMvoti states - and this is in the affidavit:
Clr P G Mavundla then offered me some money should I follow others to the National Freedom Party and even offered me the diplomatic post either in China or India.
The Speaker states that he heard, in an affidavit, Councillor Mavundla stating that -
... he had paid for the accommodation of National Freedom Party members at the Battlefields country Lodge, in Dundee.
I have approached the President, and I have waited for his response, and I have seen that there is no genuine will to stop the patronage of certain leaders in what is supposed to be the final assault on the IFP.
I admire former President Nelson Mandela. He had the integrity to be honest. In April 2002 he said:
We have used every ammunition to destroy Buthelezi, but we have failed. And he is still there. He is a formidable survivor. We cannot ignore him.
I admire his honesty. I wish that today's leaders were indeed building on the foundation Former President Mandela laid; for he recognised the role the IFP played in our liberation and he grasped the role we have to play in the strengthening of our young democracy.
South Africa's democracy is on the threshold of adulthood. We are a generation away from our painful past. Yet when the President of our country stands before the nation and urges everyone to participate in building a stronger, healthier, safer and more prosperous democracy, does his invitation include opposition parties?
Quoting former President Mandela's words has no meaning when President Zuma has become part and parcel of destroying the IFP. In her book, Chasing the Rainbow: South Africa's Move from Mandela to Zuma, Dr Anthea Jeffery highlights how the ANC regards opposition parties as illegitimate and unnecessary. To the ANC, we are little more than an obstacle to the success of the national democratic revolution.
Why is it so important to the ANC to destroy the IFP and push Buthelezi out of politics? Why is the ANC, with a 66% majority, so obsessed with me - at my age! [Laughter.] I am obviously a stumbling block, but on which road? Perhaps I am a stumbling block on the road to the ANC's intended and long- planned national revolution, or one-party state.
To get back to the President's address, let me say I cannot endorse the ANC's dream of redressing the many imbalances of our society without paying any cost. To create jobs, we must pay the social cost of creating maximum flexibility in the labour market. To create a new industrial basis, we must accept the political cost of displeasing the trade unions, curbing expectations and being honest with our people.
Our people can be patient, but they have a low tolerance for lies. If the ANC wishes to nationalise mines, it should say so openly, without playing semantic games between owning and controlling mines and minerals.
There is no reason to believe that government can do a better job of extracting and selling minerals than the private sector. Neither can the ANC use the state to reach for control of our country's strategic minerals, to hand it over to foreign potentates in secret deals for its own financial and political enrichment.
I have no doubt that the nation is asking, "Can we trust our President? Can we trust our government? Can we trust the ANC?"
HON MEMBERS: Yes!