I, today, want to break with tradition and do the thank you messages first and not last as is normally done. To start off, I sincerely, thank each of you present here today, from all over this beautiful land of ours for your loyalty and support and the efforts you have made to be here.

Thank you to all the foreign representatives for attending and in so doing, acknowledging this young and dynamic organisation.

Thank you to all the representatives from the business world for attending this auspicious occasion. We will certainly be calling on you in the very near future for financial assistance so that this party can take up its rightful place at the top of South African politics.

A thousand thank you's to Tracy Purto and Leora Berger of Conference Africa and their team together, with all the volunteers for having made this magic possible. Without you, all this would not have been possible.

Finally, a very special thank you to a small group of people in Cape Town, they know who they are, for believing in this party, this country and this cause by putting their money where their mouths are!

Turning to the reasons for us being here, some of the most logical questions would be; Where did this all begin? Why are we here today?

I always equate our democracy with a young tree and nine years into our young democracy this very tree is growing skew. Now, we can all sit back and watch this tree grow off course or we can take positive and decisive actions to rectify the situation. Remember, this is our country; we have nowhere to go, so we have to make things go right. No one else will do it for us. 

I have been in the same political organisation for almost 27 years and I could no longer pretend that everything was fine. Coupled to this is the fact that millions of South Africans feel that our democracy is not delivering the fruits that it is capable of. Many South Africans have openly been encouraging me to think about the formation of this party. The challenge was to gather enough critical mass to arrive at the point where we are today, namely the launch of the Independent Democrats.

Looking back, I am filled with gratitude for having taken this bold step. Just look at this hall, filled with capable people who have spontaneously risen up and have joined this party in their thousands, in fact after just three months, thirteen thousand to be precise!! We have representation across the country, in cities, towns and villages.  Our telephones just don't stop ringing. You deserve the praise for having had the guts to say, enough is enough, we as citizens of this country deserve better! More importantly, you, the members have been working tirelessly to build this party.

Again, thank you for your efforts but remember this party does not only belong to me, it is your property as well, so let me remind you that we must protect and at the same time respect our property called the Independent Democrats. We are equal partners in this partnership.

For some time now our opponents have been asking us, Where are you?  What are you doing? Where are your policies? Where are your members? Why are you so silent?

We have been working very hard, and we are doing well. Today, ladies and gentlemen, we are gathered from across South Africa, coming from all the nine provinces. We are here to show South Africa who the Independent Democrats are. We are here to launch our policies and we are to take politics back to the people of South Africa where it has always belonged. We are here to get back to basics.

Let us make some noise!

Since 1994 too much of our politics has been characterised by the base exploitation of ethnic and class divisions that continue to divide the people of this country.

Politicians from across the political spectrum have exploited the fears and ambitions of our people for cynical political gain.

People have cast their ballots only to be abandoned by political parties who have traded their electoral mandates for coalitions of expedience, alliances of political profit and unprincipled, patronage politics. The press relentlessly badgers me about prominent people who will be joining the ID. Let me deal with this question once and forever. Prominent and credible by whose standards? We must stop regarding people as prominent and credible on the basis of their family connections to the liberation struggle. These are the only people reaching positions of power in this country. As a result we have weak, if not non-existent and spineless leadership in this country. The ID, ladies and gentlemen, will break with this nonsensical understanding of leadership. Only people who are passionate about this country and who are prepared to work very hard will be prominent in the ID

It is as if power has become an end in itself. And while the politicians have played their games, the people have patiently waited for housing, for the provision of basic services, for more effective policing, for jobs, and for the human dignity the politicians promised.

Thousands of our people die of HIV/AIDS each year; scores more will die in the next fifteen years.

Millions of our people continue to live in abject poverty, chasing fewer and fewer jobs in the formal sector.  Families languish in poverty; children are turned away from school; our elderly are robbed in pension queues.

We stand today on the threshold of new politics for a new South Africa.   That new politics is called the Independent Democrats. Our policies are true and focussed.  Our mood is urgent.  We are here to get back to the basics of politics and governance.

ID will reclaim the power from the smoke filled back rooms and whispering grey-suited men.

 ID will take the initiative back to the people, to the foundations of this democracy, and force government to deliver real change in the lives of all of the people of this wonderful country.

We need government to get back to basics, to deliver homes to the homeless, deliver new schools to our youth, and deliver sustainable and affordable basic services through the public sector to our poor.

We need affordable medicines to allow our people live, jobs to enable our people to work.

We need to address the inequalities that undermine our society for the betterment of all in this society.

And we need to bring back to politics the foundation of human dignity that our Constitution holds so dear.

Back to basics!!!

ID refuses to make promises we cannot keep.

We may make some mistakes, we are human.  These mistakes we will acknowledge, and correct.

ID is a party of the new South Africa, for the new South Africa. ID has no secrets, no skeletons in our closet.

ID will engage with all sectors in our society, for all sectors in our society.

We will not be lapdogs, and we will certainly not be Chihuahuas.

The Independent Democrats do not believe in opposition for the sake of opposition.  Government needs to be applauded when it does well, and in turn we need to encourage them to do more.

When government fails to fulfil its duties we need to expose this, condemn this, and encourage them to improve. However, we will strongly voice our opposition when that is necessary.

Ladies and gentlemen, today is but a moment in our struggle for a better South Africa. Let us celebrate our achievements and plan for a better, brighter, and more prosperous future, for all of us in this amazing country. Let us join hands across South Africa, and come together in getting back to basics.

I thank you.