The new leader of South Africa\u2019s ruling party vowed on Saturday to crack down on the corruption that has weakened the African National Congress in a new push to end inequities that haunt the nation more than 20 years after the end of white…<\/b>
\nThe new leader of South Africa\u2019s ruling party vowed on Saturday to crack down on the corruption that has weakened the African National Congress in a new push to end inequities that haunt the nation more than 20 years after the end of white minority rule.
\u201cBillions of rands have been illegally diverted to individuals,\u201d Cyril Ramaphosa said in a speech to celebrate the party\u2019s 106th anniversary.
It was Ramaphosa\u2019s first major public address since he was elected to lead Africa\u2019s oldest liberation party in December, replacing scandal-prone President Jacob Zuma as party leader. He seems likely to be elected the next president in 2019.
Public frustration over corruption allegations against Zuma deeply split the ANC in recent months, and Ramaphosa has been pressured by opposition parties and some ANC members to recall Zuma as president.
Ramaphosa instead is emphasising the need to unify the party.
The ANC \u201chas become deeply divided through factionalism, patronage, corruption and competition for resources\u201d, he said. \u201cAt the centre of our efforts this year is unity.\u201d
On the eve of a high-level ruling party meeting this week that had threatened to discuss his fate, Zuma acknowledged the pressure, announcing Tuesday he was appointing a commission of inquiry to look into the corruption allegations. \u201cThis matter cannot wait any longer,\u201d he said.
Ramaphosa on Saturday thanked Zuma for that decision.
\u201cCorruption in state-owned enterprises and other public institutions has undermined our government\u2019s programmes to address poverty and unemployment,\u201d Ramaphosa, also the country\u2019s deputy president, said. \u201cWe are going to confront corruption and state capture in all its forms.\u201d
The ANC has been in power since the country\u2019s first democratic elections in 1994, but voters have grown disillusioned with the party of Nelson Mandela under Zuma\u2019s tenure. South Africa\u2019s economy briefly dipped into recession last year and unemployment hovers close to 30 per cent.
In 2016 municipal elections, the ANC lost control of the commercial hub of Johannesburg and the capital, Pretoria, for the first time. Observers have warned that if support continues to dwindle, the party faces the possibility of losing its national majority in 2019 and having to govern as part of a coalition.
At the party conference in December, Zuma acknowledged serious challenges but rejected allegations of graft, insisting that \u201ctheft and corruption\u201d in the private sector is just as bad as in South Africa\u2019s government and that \u201cbeing black and successful is being made synonymous to being corrupt\u201d.
Ramaphosa now faces the task of reviving confidence in both the government and the economy.
He pledged on Saturday to address the country\u2019s lingering inequality through a programme of \u201cradical socio-economic transformation\u201d, including free higher education for poor and working-class students, a national minimum wage and land expropriation without compensation.
\u201cWe aim to restore our focus on building an economy in which all South Africans can flourish, an economy which benefits the people as a whole rather than a privileged few,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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