I am very glad to have the opportunity to visit you today.
Your community and its problems have been very much in the news and I have been deeply concerned to hear of the gangsterism and crime that daily threatens your lives; of the fear in which you live.
ANC people who have been trying to assist in Manenberg have told me about the corruption of some of the police in this area and how they are working with the gangs. They have also told me how your pleas for the intervention of the army have been turned down.
Yours is a community in crisis. A crisis that is the result of long years of neglect. A crisis that is the result of a government that does not and has never cared for the Coloured people of this region.
And still today, the so-called New National party which so much wants your votes to win this region, has failed to act.
Kriel wants you to vote him in as Premier of this region, but he does nothing to answer to call for help. Although he is Minister of Police, he has taken no action to bring his police under control in this area.
Kriel wants you to vote him in as Premier of this region, but the strangler still stalks in Mitchells Plain and mothers live in fear of an unknown and desperate man. We are here today to call for peace. But here and elsewhere, we will have to fight for peace. [work hard rather than fight?]
There can be no peace where there is poverty and unemployment. Because poverty and unemployment are the enemies of peace.
There can be no peace where fully armed gangs are roaming the streets killing people; where your own unemployed children are joining these gangs [because they have no hope of finding a decent job].
There can be no peace where housing is poor and inadequate. Because poor living conditions are the enemies of peace.
There can be no peace when the government of the day turns a blind eye to the problems of a suffering community; when its own people are involved in the violence.
And there can be no peace while our neighbours, the very poorest of the poor, are without homes, jobs or food. While desperate people roam the streets looking for food for their children.
In order to have peace, we must have a better life for all. People must live in hope instead of fear. There must be jobs and security. There must be prosperity ... a chance for your children to enter into a world that allows them to work and succeed. In order to have peace, immediate steps must be taken to deal with the violence that threatens your lives. Strict gun control and an end to the terrible killing that is taking place here.
And it is essential, too, that we build a police force that serves the people. A police force that cares about the community in which it serves.
These are the things an ANC government will bring to Manenberg. Jobs, houses, security ... and above all, a lasting peace. In just over 4 weeks we will all be voting in our first democratic election.
We have struggled hard for this day. For the day when all South Africans - Coloured, African, Indian and White could together choose a government that would represent the interests of the majority of our people.
It has saddened me a great deal to learn that many of the people in this region believe that an ANC victory would be a bad thing for Coloured people. That they fear that violence will break out in their communities and that their properties and possessions will be seized.
As I have said, I am deeply saddened because I know how severely the Coloured community in the Western Cape has suffered under National Party rule.
As I stand here in Manenberg, I can see how much you in your community are still suffering under the rule of De Klerk, Kriel and the New National Party.
I know that you were uprooted from your homes and moved out so that white people could take your place.
I know that you were banned from the beautiful beaches that form part of your heritage.
I know that the rural people of this region have been isolated and victimised by National Party rule.
I know that many, many people in the Western Cape have lost their jobs as a result of a bankrupt and corrupt apartheid economy.
I know that many of you are forced to live in cramped conditions while waiting endlessly for houses that are never delivered. That newly weds must sleep in the lounge. That the children sleep under the kitchen table.
I know that you and your children live in fear of the gangs that stalk your area; of the nameless killers who threaten the lives of your nearest and dearest.
And yet, I am told, many people are saying that this terrible inhuman lifestyle ... this degradation ... is better than what the ANC government will give the coloured people.
It is not perhaps altogether surprising that people should have been misled in this way. Years of SABC propaganda have done their work. The National Party and even the Democratic Party are running a negative campaign designed to create fear and uncertainty.
The National Party has been going door to door, telling people that their houses will be occupied if an ANC government comes to power.
They are not saying, vote for the National Party because it will improve your quality of life. They are saying vote against the ANC otherwise you will suffer.
It is a cynical campaign. A campaign that exploits people's natural concerns in a time of change by creating fear and uncertainty.
It is a racism campaign. A campaign that divides communities and makes them fear and hate each other.
And it is a campaign that, if they succeed in their ends, will result in a divided Western Cape - incapable of building the unity and prosperity we so badly need.
I would like to say to you that when we say that the African National Congress is a non-racial organisation committed to the equality of all our people, we are absolutely serious.
At Retreat a month ago, I made a pledge to the Coloured people of this region ... a commitment that your community would be cared for and protected under an ANC government.
These are not just words. They represent a commitment that is binding on all those who will represent us in parliament. We will not tolerate racism. We will not tolerate inequality. And we will not allow any individual or group to suffer at the hands of any other.
This is a principle we demonstrated in Delft recently. When unknown people threatened to occupy the houses of people in the area, the government of the day failed to act. The police failed to act.
Deeply concerned, we ourselves decided to take action to stop the occupation. We have no army. We have no police force. So we asked our marshals to stand guard outside the threatened houses in Delft so that they could not be occupied. Some of those marshals have no homes of their own. They did this because, as ANC members, they believe in the rights of the people of Delft ... in the rights of any community to demand protection of its own homes and other possessions.
This is a country of many different kinds of people. And it is a country which has demonstrated for all the world to see that racism acts as a slow poison on society; turning love to hate, optimism to despair, self-confidence to helplessness and rage.
All the evils we face today have been created by that one thing: the apartheid that was the brainchild and the obsession of the National Party.
I hope to convince you today, not only that the ANC is sincere in its commitment to build a better life for all South Africans, but that we have a well-worked out plan to ensure that this happens.
This plan is not just a series of elections promises. It has been thought about, discussed, workshopped and costed over a long period of time.
We know it is a plan that will work because we know that our greatest responsibility after the election will be to turn this suffering country into a prosperous, peaceful and democratic society in which there will be jobs, peace and security for all.
This is why a very important part of drawing up this plan was to go to large numbers of people and to ask them what they wanted and needed.
And then we spoke to the experts, both locally and internationally, to find out what we could do to begin immediately building a better life.
They have agreed that the ANC Plan is a workable plan. It has been costed, tested and widely approved. It is a plan for a new kind of life for the people of this country.
It is a plan that recognises that unemployment is a serious problem and that millions of people need the security of a job. A plan that, through a massive public works programme and other measures, will ensure jobs for the unemployed.
It is a plan that understands that houses and electricity are urgent priorities and promises houses and electricity.
The ANC plan is a plan that will get rid of apartheid once and for all. A plan that will transform our society. We are committed to this. It is going to take a lot of hard work from all our people. But it is a challenge that must and will be met.
I have great confidence in the ANC plan because it says to all South Africans ... to you in Manenberg and to all the other people and communities all over South Africa ... this is a plan for you.
Join us in making this plan work. Join us in building a nation in which we can all live in peace and security.
Join us by as we work to solve the problems of your daily lives in Manenberg.
Join us in working together for a better life for all.