Item 1351 - Speech by President Nelson Mandela at an ANC Rally in Pietermaritzburg, 24 July 1994

TRANSCRIPT

Ngizizwa ngijabule kakhulu ukuba nani namuhla lapha eMgungundlovu. Ngize lana ukuzobonga abantu balelidolobha
ngokuvotela I-ANC okhethweni lohulumeni basekhaya olwaba ngo-June 26 ngonyaka owedlule. Salunqoba lolokhetho
ngamalengiso. Sekunesikhathi eside selokhu sanqoba kulolukhetho. Ngiyaxolisa ukuthi sekuthathe isikhathi eside ukuthola lelithuba lokuzonibonga bantu baseMgungundlovu. Ngiyethemba ukuthi ivoti lenu enanikeza ngalo amandla okubusa lelidolobha ku-ANC aliwelanga phansi.
I have come here to thank the people of Pietermaritzburg for having voted for Peace,
Democracy and Development in this city during the Local Government Elections that took place last June. You returned the ANC with a landslide victory of more than two-thirds. I call upon the ANC councillors to honour the trust and confidence that the people of this city have put in you Their confidence in you is both an honour and a heavy responsibility. Work together with the people to build a better life: continue with your good work and improve it where necessary.
Always remember that various communities, workers, business-persons, students, the youth and women look upon the ANC for the way forward. Let us seize this moment. Let us together with the people roll up our sleeves and better our lives where we live!
The most important thing we must achieve is peace among the people. Nothing, and absolutely nothing, can be achieved without peace. We were able to achieve this landslide victory precisely because we conducted the Local Government Elections under conditions of relative peace. To us peace is both the means and the goal. It is both the weapon
and the objective.
I want to salute the leadership and members of the ANC and the IFP for their sterling efforts to achieve peace. I also salute members of the security forces for ensuring that life, limb and property are protected.
We need to exercise maximum vigilance. We must ensure that peace is well secured. We must ensure that the leadership for peace is not hijacked by elements of the past whose very survival can only be guaranteed by spilling the blood of innocent people. We must, be careful of those who preach peace while inciting or perpetrating violence.
I am more than convinced that with both the leadership of the ANC and the IFP in this province having pronounced themselves in favour of peace, any one in these organisations who continue to perpetrate violence are, to all intents and purposes, not genuine members of either the ANC or the IFP. They are part of the forces of darkness
seeking to sabotage and undermine the genuine policies of both these organisations.
Bakwethu, masivule amehlo nezindlebe. Izitha zokuthula noxolo ziyasinyonyobela. Asiqaphele uxolo Iungagcini seluphethwe
ophakimpi abatshalwe isandla esinoboya (Third Force) ezinhlanganweni zethu. Ngineqiniso ukuthi akukho lungu le-ANC
noma le IFP eliqotho elingaba isikhwili phambana nobhoko kumigomo ehlala imenyezelwa abaholi abanjengoNxamalala,
uJacob Zuma, Dr Frank Mdlalose noBen Ngubane. Labo abazibiza ngokuthi bangamalungu e-ANC noma e-IFP kodwa bebe beqhubeka nodlame amalungumbumbulu alezinhlangano.
Regrettably, there are indications that some elements within the security forces still foment violence among our communities. This phenomenon of Third Force activities is more pronounced in Pietermaritzburg than in any other place in South Africa.
We call upon the security forces, the overwhelming majority of whom are loyal to the people and the constitution, to stand up
and fight this scourge of the Third Force, which tarnishes the good name of officers, men and women, of the security forces.
We have wiped out political crime in other provinces and have drastically reduced it in KwaZulu/Natal. And we will make further progress.
In the new democratic government there are no secret funds set aside used to blow up churches and people, to bury people
in shallow graves or to send our young boys across the borders to kill and maim our brothers and sisters in the neighbouring
states. Instead, the new government is setting aside funds to fight diseases, educate young and old, provide free medical care to our pregnant mothers and sisters, build roads, clinics, houses and schools, provide clean running water to millions of our people, create job opportunities for the jobless and provide land to the landless: in short, to better our lives!
In the current budget we have also set aside a separate 8100 million to promote peace in this province.
Wherever we are in local government we must prove that we are different from the past local government functionaries and authorities who served the interests of a few. We must mobilise all the people to join the battle for a better life. We must refuse to be objects of pity.
Impangela enhle ekhala igijima.
Yet in order to help ourselves certain things must happen. It is in the interest of us all to close the yawning gap between the living standards of the poor and the rich, between black and white, and between the town and the countryside. If we fail to do this, indeed this gap between us may become our common grave.
It is important that basic necessities such as electricity, telephones, water and other services are provided to our communities. We must rekindle the Masakhane campaign.
While this campaign is not just about payment of rent and services, it is equally true that we cannot hope to improve our lives if we do not pay for services and rent. Through Masakhane, we will be able to shape our future at local level.
The ANC in KwaZulu Natal is facing enormous challenges. it's first task in this province is to convince the people by our own
actions that we are capable of changing their lives for the better. I am pleased that the ANC leadership here has embarked on a massive programme to revive, strengthen and build ANC structures in this city and other areas.
We need political cohesiveness and single-mindedness. We need discipline. We need a decisive leadership that will lead the ANC in this province to victory; a leadership that will take this province into the next century.
The spirit of renewal is upon us. The time to build the ANC is now!
A better life for all: forward ever!

RELATED INFORMATION

Part of speech is in isiZulu