PIETERMARITZBURG - The ANC government's policy is centred around borrowing but placing little emphasis on paying back and it is one of the reasons that South Africa is sinking into an economic crisis, Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) President Dr. Mangosuthu Buthelezi said.
Addressing an elections rally at a packed Winston Churchill Theatre on Wednesday, Buthelezi told supporters that it was clear the ruling party was out of new ideas that would help South Africa.
He cited high unemployment, rising fuel and food prices, and poverty, which he said haunts South Africa. "The ANC has an economic policy of borrowing and spending with no plan on how to pay it back.
"That is a policy of economic suicide," the IFP leader said, warning South Africans against voting for the ANC.
He also accused the ANC of running Pietermaritzburg to the ground, and told party members that only the IFP could save the KZN capital and the entire province.
"Pietermaritzburg is a strategic city, so the fact that the ANC has run this city to the ground speaks of gross incompetence. If they don't service politically strategic places, how much are they failing smaller municipalities across KwaZulu-Natal?
"The problem here is magnified throughout our province," Buthelezi said.
He added that by voting for the IFP in Pietermaritzburg, party supporters would start the process of saving KZN and eventually all of South Africa.
"If you want to rescue our economy start by rescuing Pietermaritzburg, vote against failed leadership by making a cross for integrity," the IFP leader said.
He also made a veiled snub at the Democratic Alliance and Economic Freedom Fighters, the two biggest opposition parties, which he said had fatal flaws. "We no longer trust the party in power, but the alternatives seem unattractive.
"The one is wholly focused on doom and gloom, playing on your worst fears in the hope of getting your vote. The other is capitalising on your anger. I know how tempting it is to run with the party that is loud and brash.
"But you can't eat their promises," Buthelezi said in reference to the DA and EFF.
The IFP leader was preceded by Velenkosini Hlabisa, the party's KZN premier candidate who promised that if the party was elected to govern, it would act tough on criminals and make KZN a working province by reviving miming and agriculture.
