Johannesburg, Jan 13 (AP) The new leader of SouthAfrica's ruling party vowed today to crack down on thecorruption that has weakened the African National Congress ina new push to end inequities that haunt the nation more than20 years after the end of white minority rule.
"Billions of rands have been illegally diverted toindividuals," Cyril Ramaphosa said in a speech to celebratethe party's 106th anniversary.
It was Ramaphosa's first major public address since hewas elected to lead Africa's oldest liberation party inDecember, replacing scandal-prone President Jacob Zuma asparty leader. He likely will be elected the next president in2019.
Public frustration over corruption allegations againstZuma deeply split the ANC in recent months, and Ramaphosa hasbeen pressured by opposition parties and some ANC members torecall Zuma as president.
Ramaphosa instead is emphasising the need to unify theparty.
The ANC "has become deeply divided through factionalism,patronage, corruption and competition for resources," he said.
"At the center of our efforts this year is unity."On the eve of a high-level ruling party meeting this weekthat had threatened to discuss his fate, Zuma acknowledged thepressure, announcing Tuesday he was appointing a commission ofinquiry to look into the corruption allegations. "This mattercannot wait any longer," he said.
Ramaphosa today thanked Zuma for that decision.
"Corruption in state-owned enterprises and other publicinstitutions has undermined our government's programs toaddress poverty and unemployment," Ramaphosa, also thecountry's deputy president, said. "We are going to confrontcorruption and state capture in all its forms."The ANC has been in power since the country's firstdemocratic elections in 1994, but voters have growndisillusioned with the party of Nelson Mandela under Zuma'stenure.
South Africa's economy briefly dipped into recession lastyear and unemployment hovers close to 30 per cent.
In 2016 municipal elections, the ANC lost control of thecommercial hub of Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria, forthe first time. Observers have warned that if supportcontinues to dwindle, the party faces the possibility oflosing its national majority in 2019 and having to govern aspart of a coalition.
At the party conference in December, Zuma acknowledgedserious challenges but pushed back against allegations ofgraft, asserting that "theft and corruption" in the privatesector is just as bad as in South Africa's government and that"being black and successful is being made synonymous to beingcorrupt."Ramaphosa now faces the task of reviving confidence inboth the government and the economy.
He pledged today to address the country's lingeringinequality through a program of "radical socio-economictransformation," including free higher education for poor andworking-class students, a national minimum wage and landexpropriation without compensation.
"We aim to restore our focus on building an economy inwhich all South Africans can flourish, an economy whichbenefits the people as a whole rather than a privileged few,"he said. (AP)MRJ.
This is unedited, unformatted feed from the Press Trust of India wire.