IFP Women’s Brigade National Chairperson, Member of KZN Provincial Legislature (MPL)
Dear Comrades
As a New Year dawns, it is my singular honour and privilege to convey best wishes to you all on behalf of the National Women’s Brigade. There is much work to be done to ensure that 2023 is a better year, after the many calamities we faced in 2022. Collectively, we have a mammoth responsibility to change our circumstances and fashion a country that future generations can be proud of.
The political turmoil that has characterised South Africa over the past 29 years has left us all feeling dispirited. Our youth face the daunting challenge of rampant unemployment, and our women and children are continuously plagued by the devastating scourge of abuse and discrimination.
We are a nation that triumphed in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. We cast off the debilitating shackles of Apartheid and walked into the dawn of Democracy, hopeful that life would be better for all citizens who live and labour under the glorious South African sun.
Sadly, these dreams were just mirages after a long, cold winter of discrimination.
The utopia of true freedom continues to elude the majority, who still grapple with poverty and lack of basic services. We are a nation under siege from corruption, maladministration and political ineptitude. We simply cannot allow the status quo, which only benefits a small elite, to continue unabated.
We have to raise our voices in unison, to demand that those who govern do so with integrity and nobility of purpose. We need to sound the alarm on gender-based violence. More women leaders need to emerge in all spheres of society and be duly recognised and compensated: after all it is our mothers, grandmothers, sisters and aunts who nurture the future generation.
As the National Chairperson of the IFP Women’s Brigade, I lead this fight on a daily basis. It is a fight I cannot win alone. Servant leadership, which characterises the IFP, acknowledges that YOU vote in our leaders. They are there to serve and they should do so with dignity and integrity, adhering to the moral tenets and values which have characterised the party since its founder, IFP President Emeritus, Prince Mangosuthu Buthelezi, established the party 48 years ago.
I am proud to be part of the moral rejuvenation and I invite you to join me in rooting out corruption, speaking out against abuse and discrimination, and demanding that inefficient and corrupt leaders be recalled, even if they belong to my party.
Let us continue to build a country that we can be truly proud of.
We stand on the threshold of the 2024 General Elections. Let us end the apathy, as our Vote is our Voice. Let us not be fooled by T-shirts and a meagre food parcel, or empty promises – all of which have resulted in this political tsunami we face.
Let us vote for a party that prioritises effective and efficient service delivery and moral governance, and tangibly articulates these fundamentals of good leadership.
Let us also promote the IFP’s vision of self-help and self-reliance, so that we inculcate an ethos of dignity, rather than creating a welfare state reliant on handouts, which do little to address the attendant ills of poverty.
I am inordinately proud of the many NGOs, CBOs and Women’s Groups that do such phenomenal work to bring social relief to our people where government fails dismally. I commend them all.
Let us fight side by side for social justice. Let us amplify our voices against all that threatens our Human Rights and Human Dignity. Our decisive actions and voting wisely are the only panacea to the plethora of socio-political ills that have plunged our beautiful country into a failed state. When the darkness of evil is at its peak, the light of humanity should shine the brightest. Let us be the LIGHT!
I wish you and your families a safe and prosperous year filled with hope and endless possibilities.
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Contact
Hon. Princess Phumzile Buthelezi MPL
National Chair, IFP Women’s Brigade
073 216 0918