Hlabisa: solution to governing KZN will be found

well let's stay with the election results joining me now in studio is inata freedom party leader venisa whose party has recorded slight growth both nationally and in particular the province of guazu natal let's speak to mrisa now good evening to you sir and thank you very much for your time good evening and all the people of South Africa who are the viewers of this Channel at this time thank you very much let's begin with um the result at National level I know people anticipating that we're going to pay special focus on the Coalition talks that may have started may not have started what we going to get there but let's begin with um the ifp's performance at National level did you expect to get that kind of result or you wanted a little bit more thank you very much uhi but before I respond to your question on behalf of the ifp I want to convey our message of condolences to the people of Eastern Cape who lost their beloved ones through the floods that over the night and I'm conveying also our message to sympathize with those who lost property I'm aware again in Wu natal north of Dean a storm has been very bad this afternoon I saw some um videos where people lost properties and some are still trapped in the collapsed buildings I really want to convey our sympathies for the loss our people are going through at this difficult time in the economy of our country coming to your question to the performance of the ifp at a national level is something that we worked for we invested enough energy enough time of course we wanted more but we are satisfied under circumstances when we look at the political parties the stabled political parties most of them lost severely and it is the ifp that registered growth in terms of votes in terms of seats so now it Comforts us that despite the challenges that were experienced because of new entrance in the political landscape but the people of South Africa resonated with the message of Hope which the ifp used various methods you know it is only the ifp that even flew its message through the helicopter we we reached every end of South Africa all the nine provinces so now the results we got and made us humbled to people of South Africa because we know if you communicate well people of South Africa are willing to listen and respond accordingly as you say your campaign was National you say you went to all of the nine provinces and the ifp almost has this stigma of being a regional party anchored in guul Natal in which other provinces do you think you surprised yourselves with the level of growth there or you still feel that it's actually not what you would have anticipated a little bit more will make you will make your outlook more of a a national party as opposed to a regional one because the media was following our campaign all platforms of the media they um the witness that indeed the ifp has destroyed the narrative of being a regional party in panga Province we were surprised when we had our rally in panga province in Free State we also surprised in limo and Northwest we only arrived late in Eastern Cape but everyone who saw the visuals when we were in Eastern Cape at one stage the town at bizana came to a stand and when people wanted to receive our t-shirts our Manifesto and when we had our meeting they came in numbers but we realized that um there were many things um that contributed that we couldn't reach out ously um the covid-19 was a negative factor and immediately after covid-19 we had to concentrate in setting up governments because we won the majority of municipalities in W natal if you win many municipalities it takes you a year dealing with the administration that is still resistant that belong to the previous political party and after a year some realize that hey know look things have changed it's either you cooperate or you move away now once we have seen that our municipalities were settled we had to embark on the national campaign for these elections we are really satisfied yeah of the outcome even if we did not get seats in other provinces but the reception really made us humbled that the people of South Africa have been waiting for the message of the ifp once the every process is done now we will be embarking in a package of three elections 2026 2029 and 2031 Nationwide wash the space in 2026 and 2029 in other provincial legislatures beside W natal anden yeah your messaging during the campaign was anchored in part on the death penalty as far as crime is concerned in the country you also spoke about the resources of the country uh being dispensed to people the people of South Africa versus those that come from outside the country and how these resources are strained as a result of that do you believe that this message resonated if so why is it that you really haven't had a a stronger foothold because the MK R Havoc yeah well our message brought hope to people of South Africa above the two items you indic at the issue of crime affects everybody even yourself trly myself even if you have a c when you drive it on the road you know you are a target of being hijacked even if you have a pedestrian you know you are a target of criminals even if you have a house whether you are living in a flat or a mansion you know you are a target of people who can break in you take extra steps to ensure your security because our country is not doing enough to protect our people you know it takes time for many people to believe what you say but what humbled us and made us happy wherever we campaigned people said yes your message is talking to the challenges we face is the women of our country across all political parties have a similar view that if you want to deal with crime you must be tough on crime across political parties even those political parties who are against death penalty but go to women in those political parties they will tell you that if a person rapes you that person has killed you why criminals are allowed to do as much as they like yet women left dead because of what is being done to them by criminals as I said watch the space if you can look at the history of the ifp in 2011 I won't Bel long we remained with two municipalities we went to the drawing port in 2012 in 2016 we came back with 13 in in 2021 we came with 29 even if you look at the provincial legislature and National in 2014 we increased our support 2019 we removed the da as an official opposition in 20124 the ifp would have been number one in wazu Natal the arrival ofo brought a new dimension in the politics of was Nal how mhm there were two political parties it wasc and ifp amongst whom people make a choice now a third political party that appealed most to the majority brought a dimension that now people have to choose among three political parties instead of two if you look at the track record from 2021 up to now the byelections it was a clear message that the ifp is on the rise if you look at the results thec lost more than a million votes this elections the eff lost thousands the da lost thousands only the ifp that increased its support as I'm saying our plan now in 2026 will will be doing wonders 2029 in all other provinces of South Africa we are looking at Warm Bodies In Those provincial legislatures and in an increased number at a national level because when we make a promise we don't make an empty promise we make a promise which becomes our commitment which we become available to be accountable to the thir points plan we gave to the people of South Africa we will be accountable to to them for the next 5 years and we will be ensuring that at any government level quaz natalen and at the national level will be a strong voice pushing the manifesto we promis to the people of South Africa talking about that Manifesto and I don't want for a second for you to think that that's where we are at the moment in terms of the the Coalition discussions that may or may not be taking place place right now but from that Manifesto once the negotiations get going what part of it it could either be one issue it could be two which of these are going to be non-negotiables for the ifp where you're going to push strongly to say the country faces this particular challenge we we do feel that if we must agree on anything at at least hear us out on this on this on these two what is very good to amongst all political parties that will form the government in terms of their seeds there is a common agreement the issue of unemployment we all agree that we need to create jobs for our youth we need to deal with the graduates who are sitting at home because it is very bad to spend money through anas you produce graduates and you condemn them to stay at home so now now we need to go beyond making a promise we must take steps that will definitely ensure that jobs are made available there are easy ways which the ifp propos es cut down the bloated cabinet as an immediate step because there are ministers we don't need as a country there are deput Deputy ministers we don't need as a country you can save billions of RS if you can cut down the bloated cabinet redirect that money to departments where there are vacancies but there's no funding to employ doctors nurses teachers social workers the list is long that is number one number two deal with crime crime prevents a conducive environment for investors to invest in our country for South Africans who want to start business because they know that it is not safe to invest your money because the level of crime is too high yeah we must agree that let us take practical steps to deal with crime learn even from other countries that how did they made a short turn around to deal with crime so that you ensure that you create a safe environment for people to come and invest in your country and also then the third one load shading load shading destroyed our economy it affected businesses which closed down which contributed to unemployment if you want to deal with employment opportunities you must deal with load shading the first thing that you need to do let alone a number of things maintain the infrastructure you have because no matter how good the infrastructure you have but if you don't maintain it won't carry you through when you begin a project a power station commission a project finish the project don't allow projects to last for 10 years not being completed but budget get being used every year finished yet the project is not finished to deliver the services that are required you see the first three we lay a background to demonstrate that our country is taking taking a new Direction concentrate on the issue of Roads Maintenance Railway system to ensure that the transportation of good and even our people from home to work are transported in roads that have safety yeah those are the first thing that are the things in the beginning well I can go to the issue of corruption the government must send a clear message a zero tolerance to corruption people who are implicated on corruption who are depriving the South Africans to benefit out of the resources of our country introduce consequence management a person who has benefited unfairly confiscate what he or she benefited unfairly where you need to arrest you must arrest prosecute and give a s punishment so that everybody knows that the money that is available in our government is for the service of our people not to enrich the people who are in positions as well as their families if you do those Basics you will set a tone of a country that wants to rebuild and then you can start concentrating in various ways of uh creating job opportunities because GR are good the 350 for people who are employed are good the child support Grant are good because those are intervention measures but create job so that people can earn money on their own which will be far better than the grants that are available then you will be starting to make everybody to wake up and work and contribu in the economy of our country all right so that the national picture that we've painted now I'd like for you to let us in on the ifp's state of mind when it comes to Kaden are you worried about that Province if so what worries you most let me start by thanking all people of South Africa will go toward atal there was fear that there will be violence during elections we had a peaceful elections and I really want to thank all people of South Africa even in guazu Natal there was a great fear that there might be violence during election and we did not have such I am very confident of the people of South Africa including the people of wuna Nal we come we have seen the wor we have seen violence during the 80s and 90s no one wants to go back to that scenario no one I'm confident that in wuru Natal we are going to have a stable government post elections why we have so leaders and some of them their history dates back to times of violence they know the effort that was put in order to ensure that violence is brought to an end the political violence is no longer there except the killings which originate from other things people dealing with tenders people dealing with position but the political violence between political party is no longer there because the competition is free now I know as everyone knows that the outcomes of the elections did not declare any one political party as a winner MH it left our country the province of Waz natal and Hing at a crossroad where the voters said political parties come together and find common ground and work together there's no one whom they gave a mandate to govern alone currently a number of political parties are in a process of engaging with the intention of forming a coalition government a coalition government is a process of Engagement engagement and engagement until you find a common ground and you agree that these are the points we can compromise in order to take our people forward okay I'm confident just to finalize my point if you can be just I'm confident that in Wu natal we will find a solution for a government that will work for the province of of guazu natal once the process of negotiations engagement is finalized there is a period of 14 days everybody is aware that you need to move with speed in this period let me bring the in this one element you know the MK is a factor in wur Natal currently the MK has an issue with results but what makes me happy AP as of late yeah the MK is following proper procedures they firstly disputed with IEC when they did not get sufficient Joy today they announced that they have gone to the court of law to challenge the results I think for me that is what is the right thing to do because Courts are there when you have a complaint go to the courts of law present your story and I'm confident that our courts will give a satisfactory verdict in terms of the evidence that will be presented once even has gone through that process it will eventually come into a situation that yes we have won or we have lost in the court of law what else must be done there was one statement said by umoi today where he said people must not rush and want to use violence I really commend him for that statement as of today I don't want to say anything about other days but that statement to me it said this is the responsible leadership we need from all leaders in our country that by every means and every effort let us encourage our people not to resort to violence violence results to destruction death of people no one wants that to happen again in our country I want to borrow from your words you say Kaden has sober leaders who understand the history of violence in that Province first question are those leaders exclusively within the ifp or are you talking about the broad outline of political party leaders in keren who understand that History of Violence no I'm talking about broad political leaders in the African National Congress in the ifp and even now was in the Forefront of bringing an end of violence in wunu Natal he knows when you talk about violence how devastating and destructive it is and I am confident that as the days go all our leaders will speak with one voice that we don't need violence whatever problem that is there let us use the Avenues that are available as I have indicated and what the MK is doing as of today I really commend them for that because we will be exercising our rights to use proper channels in dealing with issues and I also hope IEC well IEC there will be complaints but you know we where credit must be given must be given really they ran the election in a way that would say while there were there are complaints but they tried their best to run an election that is credible whatever that is challenged must be challenged through prop proper channels you're watching news at Prime and I'm in conversation with the leader of the inata Freedom Party Mr venini Laisa Mr Laisa just before we went on a break you were talking about the IEC commending their work but as I said I still want to Anchor this around the province of guaza today the king of the Zulu Nation King M Zuli also doing much the same as you are doing applauding the IEC for ensuring a free and fair and credible election he says however he then says law enforcement agencies should deal with those trying to cause instability following the results in fact has gone as far as saying isn't Duna in hosts whether in Ken or guul natal must reports must report rather any incidents that are aimed at instigating violence and lawlessness you've already expressed confidence in the leadership of guazu natal across political parties if indeed violence is not really imminent or an issue in kadan why would the king see it fit to use such language if he was not worried about a possible outbreak of of violence let me finish my point s just few minutes while I have commended IEC but I still believe the IEC on the out standing matters that were raised by and other smaller parties the IEC said those issues have no material effect that is why they went ahead with the release of the results yeah I want to appeal that those issues even if they don't have material effect if IEC can be transp arent and say here are the issues that were raised and this is the consideration we have done to look at them and this is the outcome so that the nation is at ease as to the transparency of IEC in dealing with disputes let alone how we s them in running the elections let me come to what you're saying about the king I said even when we went to election there were fears that violence might erupt and credit must be given to our people they rendered a violent elections free now because the results have just been released and confirmed we take them in different ways those who lost some of them have not come into real terms that they have lost and sometimes when there are people who speak and use a tone that can be interpreted that it might incite violence it makes everybody worried that is why I'm saying I was encouraged by what moloi said today when he said people must not rush to use violence let us use the available channels and avenues the King has a responsibility to make a claron call before you move on to the King sir please can I stop you for a second noine because we keep circling around statements that are made and you keep going back to president former president Jacob Zuma's statements today I think that where you are veering from or what you are avoiding to say are the statements he made before today's statements where he was at the IEC venue and he use the words don't provoke us do not announce these results on the date you intend to because by so doing you will be provoking something you will be provoking us were those responsible statements let us take the latest that today said don't rush and think of the use of violence that that is why I'm saying as a country going forward you know as Leaders trly sometimes we say something today and overnight we reflect and see that no I stepped the line when when you get the opportunity you find a way of correcting what you felt I stepped the line and that's what you believe today former president Jacob Zuma sought to do the statement he made today to me is what made me to say moloi is really behaving a statement of our country who knows the effects of violence that is why he's speaking so so and following a proper procedure now going to the court of law to me there will be no need of going to Violent activities if there are Avenues to address your issues okay now we spoke about the king who says that the isn't Duna in hostels Ken and Kaden they must be on the lookout for anyone who seeks to instigate violence would the ifp issue the same message knowing by the way that that that is your stronghold if you like in terms of the number of votes that you have received hostels whether in Soto or any other parts of Ken those Pockets where hostels are those were known know ifp voter bases and in kadn that's not in question do would you carry the same message would you instruct the same that isn't Duna be on the lookout for anyone who wants to instigate violence it is the responsibility one of every leader in South Africa and every South African to be part of being on the watch out to ensure that the riots that happened in July 2 years ago do not repeat because people died people lost their jobs businesses closed down other families even today people who lost job during the those riots have not yet gone back to work it affected mosten and W natal therefore the king is doing his responsibility the ifp leader is making a similar claron call which all leaders in the two provinces throughout South Africa should do that responsibility to ensure that we have a society that is crime free and free of violence as I said all right it leads to destruction and death of people I'd like for you to listen for a second to the Secretary General of thec fig lalula as he was describing the Electoral penetration of the MK party and I just want you to have a listen briefly because I think it ties in with what we are talking about here let's take a listen to fala it did not outsmart we tried to fight the obliteration but we failed and uh uh and he emerged you must understand this that Zuma got support even in areas where he did not campaign yeah for instance here in Johannesburg in areas that we know have been ifp stronghold in the hostels they've all gone to Zuma and then uh uh he has even won the awards that he did not win including his own Hometown and thenand for the first time he won it when he stand on his own the reason I'm tying this to what we are talking about the fears of violence is that the impact of the MK the penetration of the MK even in the hostels where you previously were in charge they are now now firmly in charge of those through at least the votes how in control would you be or how effective would your message be to those people if they have now turned and become MK party supporters uh I I wouldn't want to comment much on what my brother fig balula says because it was immediately after receiving devastating results and he might have gone too far on what he is saying denialism is a problem fig must accept that ANC members who are angry decided to vote for the MK in their numbers if you look at the ifp the ifp got more votes than we did in 2019 and 2021 now the question of wanting to say he even W the support of the ifp in the hosts there are ANC members who this time around might have decided to vote for the MK because of the anger of the living conditions in which they have been subjected by the government of thec so now it will be unfair to say all people in hostels are ifp members the ifp accept that in hostels we have ifp members and there arec members who might have decided to vote MK go toand well um I I I know the results of Ganda but the people who arec members you've lost say it out loud you've lost to the MK for the first time I saw the results and look at also the aggregate it doesn't tally to the fact that the ifp Lost members to the MK because we got more than what we got before the Advent of the MK but thec lost terribly to the MK I think really it can be a sight matter to say because people vote on the basis of what appeals to them at a particular time but the responsible thing we should all do is that let us make a claron call whomever you have voted you have made your choice through your vote and the party that you voted must be your voice in government because people did not vote for violence yeah they voted for a political but then must go to Parliament and represent them all right this is news at Prime the inata Freedom Party leader Valen Laisa is my guest and we conclude the conversation on the question of um Coalition talks fig balula refers to them as talks about talks the incat Freedom Party is no stranger to a government of national Unity thec if newspaper reports are to be believed in fact the Secretary General himself addressed a media briefing where he placed all of these options either government of national Unity or a much larger coalition government or even a government uh a a minority government which of these options are you in favor of as the ifp the ifp will not support the concept of minority government we will support the concept of a grand Coalition or you may call it the government of national Unity the people of South Africa spoke loud and clear they said one we want to do away with the majoritarian abuse where a party with majority forces things that are not workable in our country and they decided to not give anyone the majority they said here is the political landscape find each other form a coalition government and the ifp has been calling people of South Africa to not stay away but to take their protest to The Ballot Box and forc the ruling party to fall below 50% so that an alternative government can come over and we were hoping because one we formed the multi-party chter which achieved the first goal the first goal of the MPC was to bring ANC below 50% we achieved that goal but you must be disappointed now that in terms of the numbers you've achieved as Coalition as the multiparty charter you are unable to effectively move but we not disappointed you know you need to be practical when you achieved your first goal couldn't chieve your achieve your second goal the next thing you must do what else do I do in order to achieve the second goal because people of South Africa have responded to our call bring them down and they did now on Sunday the ifp NEC met after having met as leaders of the MPC where we recognize goal one achieved but goal two cannot be achieved and they said political parties go to your structures find alternative ways of forming a new government the ifp has formed a negotiating team that is led by the deputy President inimi we are going to engage all political parties in South Africa with whom we share common views principles values and policies yeah with the intention of finding a common ground in order to form a government within foreign days we are confident we are going to form a government the ifp is not a stranger in a government of national Unity or a coalition government for 10 years we were part of the government 199 94 to 2004 and our country was doing very well people of South Africa made a clear statement work together take our country forward and we are in that process now will you be interested in ministerial positions if so any particular departments you may want to lead the first thing the ifp is interested in is to find a common ground as to how to take our country forward and we want to a speedy agreement on such between the political parties who will form our government the question of who becomes what is really secondary because that is about a person but about our country people want to get settled that we are going to have a government the government that will start to address our issues and we are going to pay our focus on that one the experience we have in coalition government is going to be a contribution to form a new government within 14 days and get our country going forward and start to actualize the manifesto that we promised all right final question and very briefly please if that agreement finally comes along do you believe that it should be legally binding given what we have seen at local level constant votes of no confidence a change in that position we can't have that okay I went to Denmark I went to Germany um to do an intensive study on successful coalition government whether you make it binding or not binding as long as it binds the conscience of a person what makes a coalition government successful constant engagement do not meet when there is a problem you must have standing times forth nightly you must meet as a coalition government troubleshoot any problem if there are no problem you said okay we don't have a problem meeting another one is next week and when there's a problem you deal with a problem you must create a structure that if we do not agree where do we refer issues that we don't agree so that you are assisted to resolve any problem problem the ifp is bringing a sound experience in dealing with coalition government South Africa must be at ease we will have a government that is going to work because we have an interest of taking our country forward thank you very much sir for your time oh thank you very muchi I'm looking forward to next time to engage our people as we take our country forward all right leader of the ifp valeno inisa the message is clear South Africa be at ease a government is going to come and it will be a stable one we hope that's it for tonight T juli up next with in Focus thank you for watching

Channel: Newzroom Afrika

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Length: 46min 13sec (2773 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 03 2024