INKATHA FREEDOM PARTY
ANNUAL GENERAL CONFERENCE RESOLUTIONS
7 July 2001

RESOLUTION 1

Conference:

NOTING:

The unpleasant reality that South Africa is now being recognised in international indices as a country in which corruption is pervasive and that this fact threatens any hope we have for meaningful and sustained socio-economic development;

RESOLVES:

1. That the Inkatha Freedom Party must lead by example as a Party of integrity and prioritise the fight against crime within its own ranks by not tolerating corruption;
2. To thank the President of the IFP for the outstanding example he has personally demonstrated in this regard through all his many decades of exemplary public service;
3. To applaud the intention of the leadership of the Party to strengthen the constitution of the IFP so as to ensure that persons who are incompetent or corrupt will be swiftly removed from within our ranks;
4. To request that senior leadership of the Party serving within the executive of the National Government and Members of Parliament in the National Assembly continue to remain vigilant and intolerant of corruption and to support all efforts to expose such practices and to fight crime wherever that crime might be;
5. To insist that the IFP leadership of the Government of KwaZulu Natal continues to demand loyalty and respect for authority as well as openness and decisiveness in dealing with the misconduct of officials of whatever rank. We congratulate the Premier for his uncompromising public stand in dealing with such matters to date;
6. To ask members and supporters to declare war against crime and to spread the message throughout their communities that those who steal and who are corrupt are the enemies of the people and that they are strangling our struggle for liberation and development;
7. To recognise that at the root of crime is the moral degeneration of men and women throughout our society and that our current crisis will not be resolved unless all leaders throughout our land are capable of expressing moral leadership and of demanding respect for law and order from our citizens; and
8. To call for a national campaign to mobilise sectors of our country at all levels to effectively focus on the moral regeneration of the entire fabric of South African society.

RESOLUTION 2

Conference:

RECOGNISING:

1. The decisive turn-around of the IFP represented by the December 2000 local government elections victory;
2. The extent to which the electorate is growing increasingly disenchanted with the lack of delivery and development by the ruling party and that the electorate is becoming increasingly receptive towards a party that is prepared to genuinely feel its pains and articulate its concerns; and
3. That we need to position ourselves now, to develop a governance track record now, and to build the party now, to ensure electoral victory for the party in 2004;

RESOLVES:

1. To demand of all our elected public representatives in the national, provincial and local spheres of government the highest standards of integrity, honesty and dedicated service as exemplified by our President, Prince MG Buthelezi;
2. To require of our public representatives that they, working with the structures of the party, directly involve themselves in community development projects;
3. To restructure the party as rapidly as possible to conform to the structures set out in our revised Constitution;
4. To ensure as far as is possible, the presence of an active IFP branch in every municipal ward;
5. To improve liaison between party structures with a view towards strengthening their operations;
6. To strengthen the party’s communication by clarifying the roles and responsibilities of various office bearers and elected representatives;
7. To require regular reporting by elected office bearers to party structures;
8. To require of our national and provincial leaders that they make themselves more available in responding to local disasters, accidents and the like.
9. To ensure that new membership is correctly oriented on the principles and policies of the party, and further that the youth in particular is familiarised with the history of the struggle;
10. To strategically deploy our key people; and
11. To charge all structures of the party with developing specific mobilisation plans, the results of which are to be reported on at the next annual general conference.

RESOLUTION 3

Conference:

RECOGNISING:

1. The manner in which many countries have successfully integrated their institutions of traditional leadership into their systems of governance; and
2. The visionary stand taken by the IFP President in seeking to resolve the issue of traditional leadership in our country by means of international mediation;

NOTING:

1. The intransigence of government in honouring the many promises made by the President and Deputy President to the Coalition of Traditional Leaders;
2. The crisis of confidence felt by the community at large in governments that have repeatedly failed to honour their word, reflected in both the current impasse and the crisis after 1994 in respect of International Mediation;
3. The urgency of reaching a solution to the crisis without which the viability of local government in much of rural South Africa is threatened; and
4. The need to finally put this matter to rest as a necessary precondition to reaching full reconciliation with the ANC;

RESOLVES

1. To condemn in the strongest possible terms government’s refusal to honour its promise;
2. To recommit the party to supporting the legitimate demands of traditional leaders and their communities for a constitutional settlement to the matter;
3. To commend church leaders who have intervened in support of a settlement; and
4. To recognise the necessity for the resolution adopted by IFP councillors in Ulundi on 20 April 2001, to request of them that it be implemented forthwith, and to lobby other groups to expand the campaign pursued by our councillors of refusing to usurp the legitimate local government powers and functions of traditional authorities.

RESOLUTION 4

Conference:

AFFIRMING

1. The vital role played by provincial governments in the governance of South Africa; and
2. The classic example exemplified by the erstwhile government of KwaZulu, of second-tier government facilitating service delivery and development in an efficient and effective manner;

RESOLVES:

1. That provinces, keenly attuned to the cultures, values and needs of its people, should have expanded powers to enable them to deliver more efficiently and more effectively to its communities;
2. That policing specifically be made a provincial competence to facilitate improved servicing of our beleaguered communities;
3. That there should be close cooperation between all three spheres of government, particularly in respect of development and service delivery;
4. That provinces utilise their budgets to maximise delivery to the poorest of the poor and to secure development of the province for the benefit of all its inhabitants;
5. That provinces should ensure their public servants are suitably skilled and motivated to render the service required of them; and
6. That provincial governments must educate the youth in work-related skills, and in facilitating their involvement in sports and leisure activities.

RESOLUTION 5

Conference:

NOTING:

1. The developmental role to be played by municipal councils in advancing the interests of all members of the community, but particularly the poorest of the poor;
2. The key role of to be played by IFP-run and IFP-led councils in giving effect to the party’s 2000 election manifesto – “Leading the Struggle for Development”; and
   The fact that IFP councillors and IFP councils represent the public face of the IFP at the local level;

RESOLVES:

1. To strengthen communication and accountability between councillors and the community they serve beyond the minimum statutory requirements;
2. That party structures and leaders work hand-in-hand with councillors to ensure programmes are implemented;
3. That workshops should be held for both communities and councillors to examine their respective roles, powers and functions;
4. To support the free supply to each qualifying household, of 6kl water per month, and to request of KWANALOGA that it pressurise government for sufficient funding to implement the policy;
5. To deploy IFP councillors to chair all available council committees, particularly the human resource committee, and further to seek to employ IFP persons as senior officials.
6. That prior to any council meeting or any meeting of one of its committees, IFP councillors must hold a caucus meeting to deal with the relevant council agenda, and that party leaders should be deployed to assist;
7. That in our relationship with the Democratic Alliance we stand firm in adhering to our party principles, and that we remain committed to implementing developmental programmes benefiting our supporters;
   That in councils in which we are not a governing party, we constitute ourselves as a constructive opposition addressing issues of relevance to our people.
8. That leaders deployed to assist councillors be visible; and
9. To urge that the allocation of powers and functions of district and local municipalities be expedited.

RESOLUTION 6

Conference:

NOTING:

That the HIV/AIDS pandemic is now a blight on the lives of many millions of South African men, women and children and that myriad campaigns to alert citizens as to the cause and prevention of this insidious disease have clearly not had the desired result as infection rates continue to escalate;

RESOLVES:

1. To recommend that national, provincial and local governments and all others involved in HIV/AIDS awareness programmes recognise the necessity to refocus their existing tactics and strategies and, in particular, prioritise local communities and civic structures;
2. To propose the rapid implementation of appropriate sex education and HIV/AIDS prevention programmes within all our schools;
3. To insist that traditional African cultural perspectives be incorporated into all HIV/AIDS awareness policies and programmes;
4. To recognise research that reveals that gender perspectives and the empowerment of women are fundamental elements in the reduction of the vulnerability of women and girls to HIV/AIDS;
5. To continue to request members and supporters to stress to their families, friends and others that responsible behaviour within their personal relationships is the key to combating the disease;
6. To encourage tolerance, empathy and support for those afflicted with HIV/AIDS;
7. To recognise the burden being placed on the elderly in our society who now face the tragedy of caring for their dying children and their orphaned grandchildren;
8. To emphasise the important role of cultural, family, ethical and religious factors, as highlighted at the recent United Nations Special Session of HIV/AIDS in New York, in the prevention of the epidemic;
9. To request all structures within the Party to assist traditional leaders, individuals and families within our communities, welfare organisations, churches and all others attempting to help all those in need of care as a result of this appalling human tragedy in our midst.

RESOLUTION 7

Conference:

NOTING:

That the term “poverty alleviation” is a misnomer, believes the correct phrase should be “empowering the community towards self-help”.

RESOLVES:

1. That IFP members and supporters should educate their communities in training and development workshops pertaining to land usage and governments should be encouraged to make available to emerging farmers agricultural equipment for such training and communal use as required;
2. That training should also be given in marketing, managing and financial skills and in establishing and managing cooperatives and that constructive relationships between commercial farmers and small farmers must be encouraged and nurtured;
3. To require the Party to establish a development office with personnel to run development programmes pertaining to cooperatives and management skills;
4. That members and supporters should reach out into all communities to assist in rehabilitation programmes pertaining to victims of violence;
5. That members and supporters should become skilled in outreach to the media and other ways and means of disseminating information and in motivating persons to understand that self-help and self-reliance is their only means of salvation;
6. That self-help projects must be promoted; and
7. That traditional leaders be requested to assist and advise all persons attempting encourage the development of self-help projects in rural areas.

RESOLUTION 8

Conference:

NOTING:

The ongoing vilification, over many years, of the President of the Inkatha Freedom Party in particular by sectors of the print and electronic media, accepts that little can be done to reverse the personal political agendas of those who choose to practice advocacy journalism and to deliberately attempt to wrongfully malign our Party and its leadership;

RESOLVES:

1. To continue to attempt to fully co-operate with the media and to provide Press representatives and their organisations with whatever information they require about the policies and programmes of the Party or, indeed, any other relevant details of public interest;
2. To instruct the Party’s communications directorate to continue to issue rebuttals to each and every item calculated by the authors and/or their respective organisations to do harm to the image of the IFP and to denigrate our leadership, members and supporters;
3. To praise the President of the IFP, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, for the dignified manner in which he has endured such hurtful and sustained media onslaughts, many of which were and are ruthless attempts to damage his good name and reputation in the eyes of the electorate of South Africa;
4. To note that we have discerned yet another trend in this campaign, exemplified recently by the journalist Farouk Chothia in an article in Business Day, which purported to portray Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi as an emerging elder statesman and yet was a not-so-cleverly disguised hatchet job attempting to create an image that our President now no longer occupies a place on the national stage of South African politics;
5. To reject such trite contentions with the contempt they deserve and proclaim that both the IFP and all South African citizens owe Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi an enormous debt of gratitude for the role he has played to date in the attaining the political liberation of South Africa and in working then and now for peace and political stability in our post-apartheid period of transition. Furthermore, for the leadership he is desperately required to give and selflessly does in directing, within the most senior Cabinet Committees, the attainment of much-needed socio-economic development and the moral regeneration of the people of our land.