Johannesburg - Freedom Day reminds South Africans about the first step taken towards unity, the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) said on Tuesday.
"We took that first step as a nation in 1994. Now, we need to keep moving forward. It does not matter that, that unity still eludes us," said Mangosuthu Buthelezi at the party's Freedom Day celebration in Vryheid, KwaZulu-Natal.
"Throughout the world, our transition from apartheid to democracy was heralded as a miracle..."
He said the transition was also birthed through the tremendous sacrifices made by countless people over many years.
"Our struggle for freedom did not begin with my generation. We simply accepted to carry forward the legacy of what our parents and their parents had achieved."
He said after 16 years, the message had to go out "that there was something better than empty promises".
"There is something better than a leadership plagued by corruption and scandal.
"There is something better than poor service delivery and constant excuses."
He added that voters would not elect people "whose hands stank with corruption".
"Let's use the vote to usher in a leadership of integrity."
