Lindsay Dentlinger13 February 2024 | 12:41

SONA 2024 debate: ANC govt introduced load shedding, State capture, unemployment - IFP's Hlabisa

In his maiden State of the Nation Address debate - IFP leader Velenkosini Hlabisa reminded Parliament that during its first 10 years of democracy - unemployment decreased, crime was lowered and the economy grew.

SONA 2024 debate: ANC govt introduced load shedding, State capture, unemployment - IFP's Hlabisa

FILE: IFP President Velenkosini Hlabisa spoke to residents of the Jeppe Men’s Hostel in Johannesburg on Thursday 2 February 2024. Picture: Thabiso Goba/Eyewitness News.

CAPE TOWN - The Inkatha Freedom Party new president Velenkosini Hlabisa has suggested that South Africa was better governed when his party was part of the government of national unity - whose mission was to oversee the new Constitution.

In his maiden State of the Nation Address debate - Hlabisa reminded Parliament that during its first 10 years of democracy - unemployment decreased, crime was lowered, and the economy grew.

He’s told the house that the African National Congress (ANC)’s failures are unforgivable.

“The ANC, and the ANC alone gave us State capture, they gave us load shedding stage six, the ANC gave us nine wasted years, the ANC gave us close to eight million unemployed people of South Africa.”

But Human Settlements Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi has taken exception to the importance Hlabisa has placed on his party - saying it had also terrorised many people living in townships.

“The worst thing you could have done to us is to remind us of what IFP has done to us - those of us who stayed in townships.  IFP was a symbol of mobilisation of tribalism and also the death of many who lived in the townships closer to hostels and could not travel with trains. “