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I welcome my appointment to the premiership of my beloved Province of KwaZulu-Natal. I am aware of the enormous challenges awaiting me but I believe that if I receive the support of all the people of goodwill of KwaZulu-Natal irrespective of existing political, social or cultural divides, together we can triumph in making our Province the finest place for anyone to live, raise a family and prosper anywhere in the country.

I do not promise miracles but only my dedicated commitment and hard work. I do promise a style of governance in which political statements are assessed against the yardstick of tangible results. My paramount priority is to get the KwaZulu-Natal government to work and to become an efficient machinery that delivers what the people require, I have no other priority but that of meeting the priorities of the people.

Education, the fight against crime, the development of new job opportunities and economic and social growth through the liberalisation of market forces are not just my own priorities but I indeed believe them to be the priorities of all KwaZulu-Natalians of goodwill.

I intend to consolidate and complete the work and many outstanding agenda items attended to during the capable leadership of my predecessor, Dr B S Ngubane. It is not my intention to re-invent the wheel, but to make it spin better and faster. I am a down-to-earth family man and a man of the people to whom KwaZulu-Natal is more important than anything else in life. It will be easy for me to find commonality with those who feel that their roots are solidly grounded in our Province and want to make a long term investment to make it succeed.

This is not the time for divisions. This is the time to build national consensus and reconciliation by rolling up our sleeves. I want my premiership to be characterised by the goodwill of people who choose to compete on how to best serve our citizens rather than to oppose one another for mere opposition sake. We must reconcile and work together because the Province can no longer afford spurious political wrangling and private agendas.

For this reason I look forward to working in the Government of Provincial Unity and with all the other political parties. I was the leader of the IFP team which negotiated the Constitution of KwaZulu-Natal. On that occasion we reached unanimity even though the Constitution was not certified. If people care about our Province as much as I do, we can reach the same unanimity in working for its long-term economic prosperity and social stability.

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