Mr Speaker, on behalf of the FF Plus, I wish to congratulate the hon Mr Zuma on his election as President of South Africa. When we chose Mr Motlanthe as President, Mr Zuma sat up in the gallery. At that time I told him of the two Afrikaner farmers, who had, during the night, harnessed eight oxen to their wagon. Because it was dark they unfortunately harnessed a lion together with their oxen. When the sun rose and they saw the problem, they did not know how to untie the lion. I thank Mr Motlanthe, who today retires as President. You acted with great dignity and made it very easy for the ANC to untie the lion. [Laughter.]
I was in this Assembly on 14 June 2005 when Mr Mbeki announced Mr Zuma's resignation as Deputy President. I am here again today in 2009, to see how Mr Zuma becomes the President of South Africa. [Applause.] A lot has happened between those two dates. [Laughter.] I think the words of Muhammad Ali, the former world heavyweight boxing champion, are applicable to Mr Zuma here today. Muhammad Ali said: In your pursuit of success there will be hundreds of setbacks. Remember, a heavyweight match is 15 rounds. If you lose a few rounds, or even get knocked down, it doesn't matter, as long as you get up and eventually win.
The same goes in life. [Applause.]
Mr Gordin wrote in Mr Zuma's biography that there were a number of mementos hanging on the wall in the living room of the rondavel of President Zuma's first wife. A framed one reads:
I wish a long life to my enemies so that they might all see my successes.
[Applause.]
Meneer, ons het vandag in Suid-Afrika ons vierde President in 15 jaar verkies. Ek dink dit is goed vir Suid-Afrika en dit is beter as Zimbabwe wat vir 29 jaar een president gehad het. [Gelag.] Tog glo die VF Plus dat die volgende vyf jaar in Suid-Afrika deurslaggewend en krities baie belangrik vir ons toekoms gaan wees.
Neem President Zuma se kabinet verkeerde besluite, dan strompel ons polities voort van een krisis na die ander, 'n donker toekoms in. Neem hulle die regte besluite die volgende vyf jaar, is daar hoop vir die toekoms waar elke Suid-Afrikaner sal kan voel daar is ook vir hom of vir haar 'n plek in die son. As die VF Plus, sal ons ons rol as opposisie speel. Ons sal prys waar nodig, maar ons sal nie huiwer om te kritiseer as die ANC, na ons mening, foute maak nie. Baie geluk. [Applous.] (Translation of Afrikaans paragraphs follows.)
[Sir, today we have elected our fourth President in South Africa in 15 years. I think this is good for South Africa, and it is better than Zimbabwe, which has had one President for 29 years. [Laughter.] Despite this, the FF Plus believes that the next five years in South Africa w ill be critically important in determining our future.
Should President Zuma's cabinet make the wrong decisions, we will politically stumble from one crisis to another and towards a dark future. If they make the right decisions in the next five years, there is hope for a future in which every South African will feel that he or she has a place in the sun. As the FF Plus, we will play our role as opposition. We will praise where necessary, but we will not hesitate to criticise if the ANC, in our opinion, makes mistakes. Congratulations. [Applause.]]